Bitcoin rift sees currency enthusiasts ditching iPhones

Apple Inc.’s decision to remove a program used to send and receive Bitcoins from its App Store prompted Barry Silbert to end a love affair with his iPhone. “I’m switching,” Silbert, chief executive officer of New York-based SecondMarket Inc., said in an e-mail after Apple this week removed his Bitcoin application of choice, Blockchain.info. “Shopping for a new phone this weekend.”

From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, technology enthusiasts who used to see the Cupertino, Californiabased company as a kindred spirit are voicing their frustration over its policies. Apple requires apps to be legal everywhere they’re offered, and some governments including China and India have questioned Bitcoin’s legal status.

The ouster of Blockchain is causing a backlash, and some are going to extreme measures to show their displeasure. Several people posted videos online destroying their iPhones. One user shot his iPhone with a sniper rifle, another smashed it with a metal bar and another threw it down a flight of stairs.

Bitcoins exist only as software, and transactions are completed via computing devices. Even though no physical currency exists, merchants from car dealers and Web stores are accepting the digital money.