Apple’s WebApps page recently pointed me to the ‘Reaction Time Test for iPhone.’

The idea is simple — click the ‘start’ button and as soon as the background changes color, click ‘stop’.

Dumb little game, right?

A sneaky iPhone Web App

A Sneaky iPhone Web App

But wait!  Look closely at the screenshot and you’ll notice a google advertisement placed adjacent to the stop button.  When the background color changes, the user panics and grabs for the stop button.  This panicked movement combines with the inexact finger navigation inherent on the iPhone to cause the user to click the advertisement by accident (I did this repeatedly in my attempts to play the game).

Furthermore, because the ads are contextually targeted to the ‘reflex’ theme, medical and legal ads appear which surely fetch the developer a pretty penny each time someone accidentally clicks the ads.  Brilliantly evil, no?

Check it out for yourself.

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