Apple Bonanza of iPhone, iPod Touch Applications

By James Alan Miller on July 11, 2008 3:45 AM

Yesterday, in preparation for Apple's iPhone 3G launch and iPhone firmware 2.0 upgrade, Apple launched the iPhone App store (also for the iPod touch) in iTunes. The App Store contained hundreds of applications. By the time the iPhone 3G goes on sale at 8:00 a.m. today, it is supposed to be composed of over 500 native applications, including 125 free titles.

We've already posted a few stories covering a few of these apps. These include versions of MySpace, Sega's Super Monkey Ball, a pair of titles from Oracle; and an edition of CRM mainstay Salesforce.com. We also posted about how Apple quickly compiled two top ten app lists (one for overall iPhone apps and the other covering free titles) in iTunes. Here you'll find several additional titles listed. And you can also learn about AOL's three free iPhone titles (AIM, AOL Radio and Truveo), AT&T's YellowPages.com, TripAdvisor's Local Picks, social mapping-app Loopt, and a game from Griptonite called Chimps Ahoy! here.

To round things out, we've now listed several more titles with brief descriptions. It's all just the tip of the iceberg.

reQall: A memory aid based on research into memory prostheses from MIT's Media Lab. The software enables you to simply say what you want to remember straight to your iPhone or iPod touch. Your voice reminders are immediately converted into text and delivered back to you at the right moment.

The app can remind you via text message, instant message, e-mail, or as a calendar alert about what you need to do and when. And if you shake your iPhone, a feature called Memory Jogger identifies information designed to maximize memory reinforcement.

5 Card Touch ($1.99): A Vegas-style video poker game from Griffin Technology. It is the first in a series of applications Griffin plans to roll out for the App Store.

midomi mobile (free): Enables users to find songs and artists by singing, humming, speaking, typing or playing original music sources into their iPhones - developed by search and sound recognition company MELODIS.

iPhone Emergency Card ($2.99 ): Title from Polka provides essential life-saving information on the iPhone and iPod touch. It stores users' important health and contact information securely and makes it accessible when they need it most; say during the critical moments of an emergency.

MotionX-Poker ($4.99): Fullpower says it used the accelerometer and multi-touch display to develop realistic dice game. So the player shakes the device to roll the dice. Gameplay is similar to a standard poker game, with each side of the die representing a different card. Each player has up to three rolls to get a winning combination of Poker dice. The player with the best hand at the end of these rolls is the winner. Users can also play any dice game through the game's 'Zen Roll' mode.

Pocket Express : Handmark's flagship news and information service: top news headlines of the day, the current score of a game, flight status, etc. The content comes from the likes of the Associated Press and the Official Airlines Guide (OAG).

Freeze Tag ($4.99): A version of the popular drawing toy Etch A Sketch. Doodling application includes finger-touch drawing, coloring options, shape creation and photo import/export. And, like the toy, you can "shake" your iPhone or iPod touch to erase your sketches.

PAC-MAN & Ms. PAC MAN ($9.99 each): In addition to the classic gameplay offered by PAC-MAN and Ms. PAC-MAN, the games have been 'upgraded' to take full advantage of the iPhone's capabilities. So you can control the games with the smartphone's accelerometer, a virtual d-pad, or the touch screen, for example.

AP Mobile News Network (free): A multimedia news portal from The Associated Press. The application automatically detects location, allows readers to browse full stories while out of network reception, and provides navigation customization. It also allows viewers to save stories of interest and flip through photos and videos. A "Send Report" feature allows users to report first-hand accounts and send photographs directly to AP editors.

Gameloft Games : iPhone and iPod touch titles now available include Brain Challenge, Bubble Bash, Chess & Backgammon Classics, Platinum Solitaire, Platinum Sudoku, and Diamond Twister. Each game is supposed to fully utilizes the accelerometer, touch screen and showcase enhanced graphics for the large iPhone screen. Diamond Twister, Platinum Solitaire, Platinum Sudoku, Bubble Bash all go for $7.99. Brain Challenge and Chess & Backgammon Classics list for $9.99 each.

Electronic Arts : Scrabble and Tetris for $8 each, EA Sudoku for $15, with Spore coming in September.