Gaming, social networking, news, education and productivity – these are all categories in the most exciting addition to the new 3G iPhone – applications designed especially for the Apple iPhone by third-party developers, which we are now able to buy since 5pm today – over 12 hours before the iPhone itself goes on sale.
The latest upgrade of iTunes 7.7 must be downloaded first and, bang, a whole new category appears on the homepage: the App Store. There are several hundred new applications and lots are free, including ‘remote’ which changes your iPhone or iPod Touch into a remote control for your iTunes library from which you can play, pause and shuffle through your multimedia – cool!
The good news is these applications can be used on the original iPhone and the iPod Touch too (some games can be played on the latest Nano), as long as you download the new iTunes update. So if you’ve gone and jail broken your iPhone you can’t because you’ll have to run the risk of updating the firmware to 2.0 or later. Oops.
The App Store is displaying a wide range of widgets and doo-dahs that can be downloaded and added to your iPhone: there are ones for MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, as well as those for photo fans in the form of Flickr, PhotoBucket and SmugMug applications that upload your pictures directly from the phone to your site.
Some interesting looking apps that aim to pleasantly waste your time include iZen Garden and Netter’s anatomy, which makes use of the motion-sensitive accelerometer built into the iPhon. But be warned, Netter’s Anatomy will set you back €31.99.
The iTunes App Store pricing is extremely varied, ranging from 79c for the Abacus app up to the pricey Netter’s Anatomy and Netter’s Neuroscience Flashcards.
But this range of applications will go a long way towards turning the iPhone into a truly mobile desktop experience.
By Marie Boran
