Saturday 15 November 2008

iPhone Applications that I may or may not endorse...

The next hundred words or so are going to bang on about the iPhone, so I'd recommend haters and laggards stop reading now, or read and realise that there is a whole other world of marketing possibilities that you are missing out on. You don't have to like the platform, just acknowledge that there's a good chance your customers might.

At the moment, I am just one app away from moving onto my fourth screen page full, so I thought I'd give a run down on what I have downloaded so far and perhaps... you know... we can share app stories. I must mention though that nearly all apps but one on my list were free of charge. I don't really believe in paying for apps, in the same way that I don't believe that websites should charge users a subscription fee to access their content. It's so not Web 2.0.

Ok here goes...

Must haves:
--> Facebook
--> Twitterific
--> Google
--> eBay
--> Wikipanion

Neat for work:
--> MProfs
--> MProfsQ&A
--> Dictionaire
--> NYTimes
--> WritePad (a little PDA never goes astray)

Fun but can live without:
--> Google Earth
--> MetroFree (Melbourne public transport timetables)
--> Remote (universal digital remote)

Party Trick central:
--> Shazam (this is the most innovative app to-date)
--> MiniPiano (just learnt how to play Happy Birthday - meaning I can add that extra touch to birthday voice mails)
--> Lightsaber (seeing is believing)
--> iPint (best product integration so far by Carling)

Download because you can:
--> Chanel
--> Style.com (home of US Vogue)
--> GeoPedia (Like Wiki but content is derived by your current location, so a walk down Swanston Street in Melb's CBD might give you the history of the architecture, places to eat or prominent people)
--> Shakespeare (nothing like reading the great works of a literary master on a 7x5cm screen ;-P)
--> 100 Words to Sound Smart (meant for trailer trash, as smart words include 'angst', 'Catch-22' and 'epitome')
--> Flashlight (points out a flaw in the iPhone)
--> Translator & French (perfect for travelling)

Neat games:
--> Hangman
--> F25 Hockey (ah... arcade games)
(Not really a gamer so you can see I really need to expand this section)

My lonely paid app:
--> Koi Pond (too hard to describe... a pond with fish in it and the water ripples... seems boring but the beauty is in the fact that it is an excellent relaxant)

12 comments:

  1. just picked up my iPhone over the weekend.

    Helpful list for me. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hell yeah, some good ones on there that I will look up as soon as I finish writing this comment (note to self: must publish on blog tonight).

    I don’t like paying for apps either. Something doesn’t feel right about paying for them. What if they are no good? Can I return them like a normal shop? Probably not but I don’t actually know.

    Kate, obviously not a spots fan! I have MobiCast (cricket) and iFooty (Soccer) for news. I just see so many possibilities here … why haven’t the AFL or the NRL got an app like this? I see that every NFL team does and most of the college teams do.

    FootballLite (game) is also a fav – anyone remember playing flick footy at school? This I it! Boooooom

    I also like Black Jack and Poker for some time wasting while my wife tries on shoes.

    Kate some that I highly recommend is BOMRadar and Easy Relax

    Do you know you can also mobile your blog? Go to http://mofuse.com/ I have done a cool little iPhone logo for my blog (happy to do one for you if you want).

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great link! I'm playing around with it now... trying to decide what category my blog comes under actually. :-)

    Wonder if we can do that with the whole MarketingMag website? Haha.

    Yeah you were right, I'm not really a sports game fan, love playing them in the first person though.

    Will check out BOMRadar (sounds a little terrorist-like) and Easy Relax (should be up my alley).

    Thanks for the comment Dave - welcome to the iPhone club!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ha ha ha BOM means "Bureau of Meteorology" ... great to see live weather radar of your location.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Without turning this into a chat room - do you have Twitter Daniel? I'll start following you...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Kate, I believe the term for an app addict is appaphiliac. I might have it with almost seven screens of apps.

    Here are some of my favourites:

    Koi Pond - like you, as a non gamer, it offers some of the visuals gamers take for granted.

    Pkt Weather - its a paid app but great for the weather and much better than the one that comes with the iPhone. Beautiful design.

    Icanhascheezburger - works great as an app

    Mandarin - This is the Lonely Planet phrase book. They made it free for the Olympics while the rest in the series cost about $13.

    Instapaper - works with the website so you can save articles you'd like to read one day and it puts them on your iPhone.

    Handshake - great for swapping contact details with others who have an iPhone and are nearby.

    iRetroPhone - another paid app but a cheapie.

    PaperSumo - Just because.

    KanjiPop - Great for learning Japanese characters. Quite fun really.

    DRINK. this is a paid app that replicates Bar Secrets Melbourne (this is a shameless plug for my own app)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great list Kate, thanks!

    One of my problems with Web 2.0 is that too much of it has been built without any thought for revenue, so I'm quite happy to pay for iPhone apps as long as they're reasonably priced, And my problem with revenue-free Web 2.0 startups is about to disappear as the econolypse cuts them all off at the ankles anyway.

    So, here's some iPhone app recommendations from me:

    Banner - display a big scrolling LED message across a crowded bar (such as, "Ahem, excuse me, but I couldn't help notice you have an iPhone too...")

    Bejeweled 2 - best mix of interstitial casual gaming payoff, high quality graphics and sound, and strategy if you have longer than 2mins to play.

    Bloom - awesometastic! Never have to buy another Brian Eno album ever again!

    Comic Touch - enLOLify those craptastic low-res, misty, poorly exposed iPhone camera images in two shakes and a drag.

    Face Melter - take a photo of your face, drag to 'melt' areas of the image, then click the 'animate' button to see it all move. Will convince any <10 kid that their mum/dad must buy an iPhone.

    Flick Fishing - casting the line by flicking the iphone is even funnier than waving your iphone around like a light saber and playing a two player game across wifi is hilarious after a couple of drinks.

    Fring - if you simply must remain connected to everybody, via everything, all the time, this is the app.

    Midomi - like Shazam, only even more accurate. Also lets you say some lyrics rather than sing, or even just type in a snippet of lyric. Not as pretty lookin' but works.

    Smule Ocarina - infreakingcredible. play a woodwind instrument by blowing into the mic. and click on the social tab to listen to other people's tunes in a cool Google Earth-like globe animation.

    Oz Weather - the best weather app for .au and $0.00001 from every copy sold goes directly to a company in which i am negotiating to become a minority shareholder.

    Pano - up yours SonyEricsson! Now I can take panoramic shots on my iphone. Misty, poorly exposed, and low-res panoramic shots, but panoramic all the same!

    Remember The Milk - if there's only one paid app you buy, this should be it. And once you're done, you can mark that task as complete.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks guys - this is turning out to be a really comprehensive list!

    Michelle - I tried to look for DRINK. after I saw your tweet the other night but didn't have much luck. :-( Will try again though as it might have taken a while to upload. (Btw I am a 'secret' Deck of Secrets addict - last count I'm up to five!)

    Alan - Thanks so much for all of those recs - my MB download limit is not going to thank you ;-)

    Tomorrow I am going to sit and download them all. Lucky I got the 16GB one in the end. Fun fun!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ocarina

    Number 1 sold App. Worth every $1.19 I paid for it!

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi Kate, Great to meet you last night.

    Here is a link to the DRINK. app http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=296494896&mt=8

    DRINK. is currently in the Top 25 paid apps which is a great position in less than a week. Next week out EAT. application will go live.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Me again. Our Melbourne dining application went live this afternoon.

    EAT.

    http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=297567917&mt=8

    Later this week will have another three or so. Years and years of hard work creating all this content will hopefully pay off.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wikipanion, Twitterfic, Amazon Mobile, Loopt, Google mobile are all favs of mine.

    I've also found other good recommendations at

    http://www.igoapps.com/search/do_search/popular_all/13/2/1/10

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.