Jonathan Davies

With the advent of the software developers kit, people have begun to speculate as to what sort of apps will be be created for the iPhone/iPod Touch. I think that there are a few things that are a given, that we will end up having. The following is a list of apps that I think NEEDS to be transfered to the iPhone.

VOiP (Skype)

Many people said it would never happen, that Apple, let alone AT&T would ever let a VOiP client be installed on the iPhone because it obviously would take away from the royalties that AT&T get from users. However, not many people noticed that in the SDK event, one of the questions asked was “How likely will there be a VoIP?”

This was the answer given:

We will only limit over cellular — if you want to dev them for WiFi, that’s fine

This opens up an opportunity for VOiP companies like Skype to bring their product to the table. It would be especially useful for iPod Touch owners when around the house or in a wi-fi network.

Podcast Directory

Till Apple gets it’s act together this is a very open market. Especially if it could be made to tie into your iTunes library. People would gobble this sort of product up. With a similar look to the Wi-FI Music store, with previews, reviews added and maybe even a way to write reviews and tie them into the iTunes store.

The developer(s) who would create the store would defiantly have a lot on his hands, but putting it into place may hard and require a lot of time, which but then may be to late if Apple releases it’s own podcast client.

RSS Reader

Once again, an app that would most likely be a best seller. If it was created by someone who already has a desktop RSS client it would be especially useful if it synced with your iPhone client, not only what you are subscribed to, but whether they have been read or not.

I imagine that it would be something reasonably easy to put into place and could be write simple to build, what is good about this is that there is likely to be a lot of competition between iPhone RSS readers, all fighting for the top spot. This will keep prices low and the standards of the application high.

Photo Booth

Imagine the ability to do almost (I don’t think the iPhone is powerful enough to do some of the video stuff) everything that Photo Booth does on the Mac, on the iPhone. It opens up a new world of opportunities, especially as you don’t go around taking pictures with you iSight so you can use the Photo Booth Feature. With this app you would be able to have fun without the preparation, see the snap and take it.

I imagine with all the Quartz animations this would be a rather easy app to make. Though I’m not to sure on it’s marketability as a product. To me this seems like one of those apps which would have to be free to get a solid user base.

Twitter Client

This app is pretty much a given, in fact I can imagine there are going to be quite a few Twitter apps for the iPhone. The Twitter API is very easy to work with and you can probably expect people who have already created a client to be the first to get there’s going.

The guys at the Icon Factory have already promised that they are working on something:

Announcement: Yes, we have the iPhone SDK and yes, we’ll have something for you in June

But just because the leader in this realm has decided to make a product certainly doesn’t mean there won’t be competitors; if someone can offer a on the whole better experience with more features, as with nay app, they will become the leader.

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