With only a week before July, we're eager to get our hands on the new goodies from Apple. With so much to look forward to and try out, we're wondering which of the pending updates you're most interested in.
Is it Mobile Me's offer of "Exchange for the rest of us?" Perhaps it's iPhone software 2.0, or even the snazzy 3G iPhone you're waiting for.
Here's your chance to let us now. Add your answer to our highly unscientific poll, and we'll post the results tomorrow. Oh, it's like Christmas! In July. Or something.
w00t! Another batch of iPhone App Store pre-announcements:
Jeff at TrouserMac Industries sent a blurb about an upcoming iPhone app that's right up my alley. Brewing Buddy will be free from the App Store after launch and consists of a tool for calculating and refining beer receipes, a brewing helper, and a social recipe sharing application. Bottoms up! [Our esteemed colleague would like to remind everyone that pants-based computing is a registered idea of Erica Sadun Enterprises. -Ed.]
TheBarCodeProject is readying TouchWord, an iPhone Holy Bible with sections for notes and an included RSS reader for Christian learning resources.
Meanwhile, over in Oxford, Mississippi, Deepak Mantena and TapeShow, LLC are getting ready to release Chores for Mac OS X and a companion app called Chores mobile for iPhone. Deepak says that "all the unnecessary fluff that's in existing productivity tools is eliminated."
While it's not an announced app, I loved reader Jack Chance's idea -- "Will someone write some software that turns the 3G iPhone into a bike computer? It should give speed, distance, and store the route so that you can sync with your Mac at home..." A lot of bikers would love this app idea -- go for it, developers!
iPhone developers never sleep, since we're still getting a steady stream of news about upcoming App Store over the weekend. Here's the latest:
Alex Price over at The Mac Box has a few free "toys" that will be available at App Store launch. PhoneSaber turns your iPhone into a virtual weapon worthy of a Jedi, while NearPics uses Panaramio.com to find pictures that were taken near your present location.
Meanwhile, Brian Tunning pinged us about NotepadSync, which consists of matching applications on iPhone and Mac to enter and edit notes. The notes are synced wirelessly to a central store, so there will be a $14.95 estimated annual cost for the service.
Another ebook reader for iPhone, Books, is being readied for the App Store by a team of developers including three Zachs!
Probably the coolest App Store contender I've seen so far is Nuance's Voice Search app. As you can see in this video, you speak your search criteria, it is sent to Nuance's servers for recognition, and then text-based criteria are pushed back to your iPhone to do a search. Thanks to Gunnar Evermann at Nuance for this tip.
Andy Qua is a recent Mac convert and new father who has developed three games for iPhone -- CubeRunner (steer your iPhone through a landscape littered with cubes), iCave (fly a ship through a cave avoiding obstacles), and iNono (puzzle game for solving nonograms).
Greg Bernhardt had info about GroceryZen, an app that simplifies grocery shopping by organizing recipes, items, and locations in the grocery store.
That's the Sunday wrapup. If you have an iPhone app that's heading for App Store release, let us know about it.
Git along, little iPhones! TUAW readers keep sending us announcements about forthcoming iPhone App Store goodies that are in the works. Send us your tips about iPhone applications you plan on having in the App Store either at launch or shortly thereafter, and we'll pass that info along to the rest of the world.
Here's today's roundup:
Cocoa Touch Games has two of a planned four "fun, simple, joyful" apps ready to go for the App Store launch. Bug Bounce and Cocoa Marbles will both be priced at $2.99.
Synthesis AG, developers of the SyncML platform and transmission media independent protocol for intelligent data synchronization, have announced a SyncML client for iPhone.
Lint Labs (great name!) has announced No. 2 (AKA HB in Europe), an app that lets you use a virtual pencil and eraser on the iPhone to sketch or take notes, then organize your work into books.
Jeffrey Grossman of movies.app fame is working on another great product, Currency. It's a currency exchange application with over 50 different countries. Looks good, Jeff!
In the "it had better be a free app" category is Philip Corliss's Bubble Wrap. It looks like a great stress relief tool.
Sol Robots, the offspring of Cortis Clark, is offering a free app to help you save money to buy that iPhone 3G. Save Benjis works with Finders Cheapers, a price comparison site, to let you find the lowest price on just about anything.
Steve Streza's Lockbox provides AES and SHA-1 level encryption and a unique gesture unlocking procedure to keep your notes and pictures secret. Expect it for less than $10 in the App Store.
LateNiteSoft has a jailbreak app called Sketches that is moving to the AppStore.
Right now it's for jailbroken iPhones, but hopefully Make Your Day Media's Remind You will be heading to the App Store within a month. It turns the lock screen of your iPhone into an appointment list.
One more jailbreak app, textReader by James Beesley, will hopefully be scootin' to the App Store soon.
The thundering herd of announced iPhone apps keeps coming! By popular demand, TUAW will be publishing the iPhone App News Roundup every day as long as we keep getting announcements from developers.
One of the most popular Windows Mobile PIM apps, Pocket Informant, is being readied for iPhone. The app features full two-way over-the-air synching. Developer WebIS is also working on Note2Self and Touch2Notes.
Logic High Software is planning for a July release of xHunt, a treasure hunt application leveraging the GPS receiver and camera of the iPhone 3G.
Developer Dimitri Bouniol is working on a detailed periodic table of the elements app called Periods.
Last but not least, it's not an app, but longtime iPod case manufacturer Speck is making six colorful PixelSkin cases for the iPhone 3G.
We've been running running a few App Store roundups covering applications announced for the iPhone App Store, but as TUAW's residentseamhead I can't help but call one out for special attention. It was demoed at the WWDC keynote and now Macworld has a close look at the upcoming MLB At Bat application. It will be available at launch and provide near real time "wireless score access and in-game highlights for every game on the MLB schedule" for only $4.99 for the rest of the season.
Apparently the video highlights will be available in two versions: one high-bandwidth version for wifi and a lower bandwidth version for EDGE (they haven't said which version the 3G iPhone will load). For the future they're looking into bringing the Gameday service to the iPhone which opens the possibility of Gameday Audio. For the real baseball fanatics out there this would be an absolutely killer app, especially for those of us away from our home team's broadcast area. Imagine being able to listen to any game on your iPhone from anywhere; that's close to baseball nirvana. And though things are looking rather bad at the moment: Go 'Stos!
Yeehhhhaaawww! It's time for the (almost) daily TUAW iPhone App News Roundup!
SplashData, a longtime and very popular developer for Windows Mobile and Palm, is bringing the SplashID (secure information manager), SplashShopper (list organizer), and SplashMoney (personal banking manager) apps to iPhone.
Fiery Ferret, AKA Bridger Maxwell, has ported his shareware game Lumen to iPhone. The iPhone version has access to 1,200 user-submitted puzzles.
Hey Mac Software will soon let you move data between Macs by transferring files to and from your iPhone wirelessly. Briefcase is the name of this program, expected in the Fall.
MyMote is an open-source iPhone application designed to provide remote functionality for Mythtv front ends. What's Mythtv? An app to turn Linux computers into a Tivo-like DVR.
Tebeka Software Developments is porting Pocket Luach to the iPhone. Pocket Luach is a Windows Mobile application that allows users to browse a Jewish calendar, create and manage Jewish events (wedding dates, Bar Mitzvahs...), and do date conversions between Jewish and civil dates.
If you have an iPhone app that's on its way to the App Store, let us know about it.
Wondering what's coming when the AppStore launches in early July? So are we, and here's what's been announced in the past few days:
Webstate is building iSharephone. It's Sharepoint on your iPhone. It will connect your phone to Microsoft Sharepoint portal servers.
Want to create music on your iPhone? Intua is developing it's BeatMaker product, which will let you beatbox, loop and sequence your way to musical joy.
Ambrosia SW has announced Aki Mobile Mahjong for iPhone. It's built around Core Animation and promises a "Cover Flow interface for level selection."
Rusty Red Wagon is porting Solitaire to the iPhone, with three variations: Klondike, Freecell and Spider.
Synthesis is working on a SyncML data sync product. For now, it's planned as a free contacts-only version but they're hoping to expand it to provide calendar support, which their developers say is not currently available in the SDK.
Got iPhone software in development? Drop us a note at our tips line.
The upcoming iPhone 2.0 software is providing more document viewing capabilities in the form of readers for PowerPoint, Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, but Apple still isn't providing a way to edit docs on the run.
Mariner Software announced at WWDC 2008 that they'll be resolving at least part of that dilemma with the release of Mariner Calc for iPhone. Mariner Calc is the software firm's popular Excel-compatible spreadsheet for the Mac.
Mariner Calc for iPhone is about 80% of the way to completion at this time and is expected to ship about the time the virtual doors open on the App Store. If you like to work on huge spreadsheets, you'll love this app since it sports a maximum of 1,000,000 rows and 32,000 columns.
Mariner Software President Mike Wray mentioned to Macworld.com's Dan Frakes that Mariner Calc for iPhone will support multiple sheets per document, charts, and objects. It's expected that the application will integrate with new versions of Mariner Calc for Mac. No price has been set for Mariner Calc for iPhone, but expect this little spreadsheet to be a popular purchase from the App Store.
Are we the only ones unnaturally excited for the iPhone App Store? We don't know how distribution will work, but imagine great applications available from top-notch OS X developers at the touch of a finger. Bored in a waiting room? Try out a new game, buy it and play it right then and there. You know it's not a piece of junk because it's been approved for the store. We can't wait.
Ambrosia is teasing one of their future offerings this week with Aki Mobile Mahjong. It's a take on the ancient Chinese game that features cool graphics and nifty sound effects (check out the screenshots and game play video). Ambrosia notes that their aim is to create games that can be launched and quit quickly and easily (for instance, when that important call arrives).
Also interesting is this little tidbit: "Download additional custom levels via EDGE/Wi-Fi...." Cool!
Does "Free" mean junk? That's the question that this Apple Insider report has had me pondering this morning. According to AI, lucky companies are being assigned iPhone development partners who are encouraging developers to charge for rather than give away their wares. As Apple is due to receive 30% of all sales, they have a vested interest in encouraging commerce but I think the issue goes deeper.
To distribute widgets, you don't need to pay $99/year and you don't have to apply for a program. Apple has the experience of Installer.app to go by, where gems can quickly get lost among other people's "Hello World" applications. I think Apple wants to keep the signal quality high and the noise level low. Perhaps that's why they're pushing for paid serious apps rather than free frivolous ones.
Today, Steve Jobs announced the App Store to go along with all of the SDK fun that's soon to begin. Available in the iPhone 2.0 software update, the App Store will allow for easy navigation of both paid and free apps; Featured, Just Added, Staff Favorites, Most Popular ... it's basically an iPhone version of Apple Downloads. You'll be able to search, tap and download applications wirelessly to your iPhone (and iPod touch for a nominal fee) via WiFi or cellular. You'll also be able to install apps via iTunes.
Developers will be able to sell their apps in the App Store, and can set their own price. They'll receive a monthly payment of 70% of sales, with 30% going to Apple for their credit card, hosting and marketing services. There are no additional costs for listing apps, after the $99 setup fee.
Quite predictably excluded from listing in the App Store are pornography and malicious applications. I have absolutely no witty comment to make about that. It's common sense.
With only a week before July, we're eager to get our hands on the new goodies from Apple. With so much to look forward to and try out, we're wondering which of the pending updates you're most interested in.
w00t! Another batch of iPhone App Store pre-announcements:
iPhone developers never sleep, since we're still getting a steady stream of news about upcoming App Store over the weekend. Here's the latest:
Git along, little iPhones! TUAW readers keep sending us announcements about forthcoming iPhone App Store goodies that are in the works. 
We've been running running a few 
Wondering what's coming when the AppStore launches in early July? So are we, and here's what's been announced in the past few days: 
The upcoming iPhone 2.0 software is providing more document viewing capabilities in the form of readers for PowerPoint, Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, but Apple still isn't providing a way to edit docs on the run. 
Are we the only ones unnaturally excited for the iPhone App Store? We don't know how distribution will work, but imagine great applications available from top-notch OS X developers at the touch of a finger. Bored in a waiting room? Try out a new game, buy it and play it right then and there. You know it's not a piece of junk because it's been approved for the store. We can't wait.
Does "Free" mean junk? That's the question that this 
