2008: Year of the iPhone

There were more headlines about the iPhone this year than any other one, single piece of technology.  TechCruch has posted a great look at the top iPhone apps of 2008.

The iPhone and iPod Touch have taken the world by storm. In just a little over six months time we’ve witnessed the doors of the iTunes App Store opening to the 10,000 app marker being crossed. In between that time we’ve see the $999 I’m Rich make several people poor, fart joke apps earning over $25K in one day, and Apple still looking the other way when users mention copy and paste. And with the number of total apps reaching over 13,500 less than a month since the 10,000 mark was passed, that growth is showing no signs of stopping. But some of these stand out much more than others do, so we’ve tried to hone in on the cream of the crop.

Top 10 Apps

Tweetie
An easy to use and full featured Twitter app that is speedy. The app has quite a bit of competition (other popular apps include Twitterfon and Twitterific).

Pandora
Browse through the music genome and find new artists that fit your taste. These are automatically recommended by the site’s algorithm, so it acts like a personalized radio that works surprisingly well.

Simplify Media
Connect to multiple computers and stream their music directly to your iPhone.

RJDJ Album
Let your iPhone and the world around you create unique and original music. The app uses external inputs (like sound) to create a dynamic soundtrack).

Beejive IM
A multi-client instant messaging app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Camerabag
Emulate 5 different camera and film setting directly from your iPhone. This helps spice up the photos you’re taking with the phone (the default application doesn’t offer much in the way of effects.

Facebook
An updated version of the Facebook app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, this allows you to chat with friends, post on walls, and use nearly every feature available on the social network’s main website.

Friendbook
A full featured replacement for the iPhone and iPod Touch contacts app.

Vlingo
Voice control nearly every aspect of your iPhone and more – it’s like a more powerful version of the highly hyped (and still-impressive) Google Mobile App.

Evernote
Keep track of everything you could possibly want to remember (like notes or photos) whether you’re on the go or at home.

Top 10 Games

Rolando
An epic platform adventure game for the iPhone and iPod Touch, this is easily one of the most innovate games to hit the platform.

Fieldrunners
A Tower defense game with SNES-like graphics. The classic gameply is highly addictive.

Jellycar
A unique puzzle game that asks you to guide your “jelly car” to an endzone. As with most of the other games on this list, this is highly addictive.

Scramboni
A multiplayer online word game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Multiplayer games on the iPhone are still rarer than they should be, and being able to play online definitely adds an extra dimension to the gameplay.

Dr. Awesome
Save your friends and family from deadly micro viruses in this iPhone and iPod Touch game.

Up There
Guide your balloon through various obstacles as you attempt to get the highest score

Flick Fishing
Forget your fishing rod – this uses the iPhone’s accelerometer to allow you to mimic a realistic fishing motion to cast a line. Also check out many of SGN’s games, which feature similar motion detection.

Hero of Sparta
Control King Argos as you battle the Gods and their minions in this action adventure game.

Brothers in Arms
Play through 14 levels on foot or vehicle in this WWII action game.

Aurora Feint II
The popular iPhone and iPod Touch puzzle RPG game goes multiplayer.

While it’s easy to simply break down the top apps and games that we’ve enjoyed in 2008, it becomes a lot more difficult to find just five apps that took a chance and brought more innovation to the iPhone and iPod Touch. Below are the five apps we feel helped define the future of apps on these devices.

2008 was all about experimenting. A fantastic device emerged, developers went crazy, and we’ve been flooded. Its now time to settle down, dig in and create some revolutionary applications. 2009 is going to be all about quality and depth. We’re going to see richer games that rival the DS and PSP, applications that truly make this device a portable computer, and multi-user apps that really start connecting people. Mobile social gaming is going to be huge and we can’t wait to see what developers have in store for us in the New Year.

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