Apple Launches ITunes App Store With 500+ Apps

L. Miriam writes "Apple launched the iTunes App store for the iPhone and iPod Touch today, following the earlier launch of iTunes 7.7. There are over 500 applications available for download, with prices ranging from free to around $35. Both MySpace and Facebook apps are there, as well as a mix of games, utilities and ebooks. You can download applications now, but you can't do anything with them until the iPhone/iPod 2.0 firmware is released. The App Store can't be accessed directly through iTunes, but Mobile Computer explains how to get to it, and has a few screenshots, too."

Comments

Direct link to the App Store

[Mononoke]

This link takes you to one of the available apps in iTunes. You can then navigate backwards to the App home page: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=284781777&mt=8

Re:Direct link to the App Store

[Mononoke]

Never mind. Here's an even more direct link:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewGenre?id=36&mt=8

You can access it directly within iTunes.

[Trolan]

There's a section in Preferences -> General which controls which categories you have on the panel on the left. One of those available to display now is "Applications" which will happily take you to that section of the iTunes Store.

Re:You can access it directly within iTunes.

[iksbob]

Am I the only one that gets a blank dark grey window? Clicking "Check for Updates" and "Get More Applications" just brings up a dialog stating: "The iTunes Applications Store is not currently available. Please try again later."

Re:You can access it directly within iTunes.

[Anonymous Coward]

or directly from iPhone 2, works just fine with mine

Re:You can access it directly within iTunes.

[theurge14]

Thanks for this. I just checked it and noticed that they've moved the iPod nano and iPod games I've downloaded to this new Applications tab.

itunes? WTF?

[Anonymous Coward]

WTF? itunes? Isn't it a music management software?

Re:itunes? WTF?

[prestomation]

It's everythingtodowithappleproducts management software.

Re:itunes? WTF?

[Anonymous Coward]

like installing things without users' knowledge?

Re:itunes? WTF?

[2nd Post!]

What did iTunes ever install without user knowledge?

Re:itunes? WTF?

[Anonymous Coward]

Safari on Windows boxes.

Re:itunes? WTF?

[bignetbuy]

Previous poster is probably referring to Apple's Safari Update fiasco where Safari was installed, by default, whenever an iTunes user updated his/her software.

Re:itunes? WTF?

[Anonymous Coward]

OLOLOLOLOLOL you made a Safari joke again.

Never mind that even though it was selected by default on Apple Software Update, one could easily unselect it, but Apple still sucks, just because.

Re:itunes? WTF?

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't know about you, but I don't like spyware/malware on my computer.
There, I made it again.

Re:itunes? WTF?

[Anonymous Coward]

You forgot about the cost.

Freaking $100 to develop apps for the damn phone. People who actually want to write applications so that people will buy *their* product.

I cant comprehend the awesomeness of Jobs' RDF.

Re:itunes? WTF?

[Ilgaz]

iTunes got updated for that App store.

E.g. I am OS X only user with 3 macs at my home, 3 macs downloaded some 50 MB or something iTunes update and installed (my choice) because it was a critical update. As a Symbian S60/J2ME user who has ZERO interest in iPhone, I got the 150+ MB download. I got used to it as a downloader of all iPod firmware updates earlier times :)

OS X, kernel, device drivers, frameworks can get "patched" but iTunes can't. As you know, iTunes is a way more critical software (!) than OS X :) At least, after iPhone shipped.

Re:Frisbee Golf!?

[The Ancients]

Dunno. Whatcha smokin'?

"500"

[samkass]

The 500+ figure includes each e-book as a separate "app", but still there's a pretty good showing with much more to come. A lot of it is free or very cheap.

Still, if people thought FairPlay DRM was a lock-in factor for iPods, they haven't seen anything yet. Android is going to be about 6 months too late to intercept the wave of lock-in happening right now with the app store. I'll bet Stallman is firing up a good rant as we speak...

Re:"500"

[Anonymous Coward]

God, I hope so. I'm prepping a great big yawn for Stallman's rant as we speak, too. Be a pity to waste it.

Re:"500"

[tgd]

It also includes the doubling up of the free apps -- poking around, it looks like almost half of them are "free" demos, and there's a second premium app you have to buy.

Re:"500"

[EastCoastSurfer]

An app for the iPhone seems similar to the lockin one gets buying a game for the DS or PSP. Sure, Apple is controlling all distribution, but free apps are fine and I haven't seen anything that prevents you from releasing the source code of your app on your own website.

Overall, the iPhone ecosystem is one that other phone makers are going to try and copy because it's easy for the users and appears to just work.

Re:"500"

[Ma8thew]

You don't HAVE to buy them. Twitterific free version will just stick a advert from 'The Deck' advertising network in ever hour or so, just like the desktop application.

Re:"500"

[MojoStan]

The 500+ figure includes each e-book as a separate "app", but still there's a pretty good showing with much more to come. A lot of it is free or very cheap.

It also includes the doubling up of the free apps -- poking around, it looks like almost half of them are "free" demos, and there's a second premium app you have to buy.

It also includes some pretty crappy apps that surprisingly made the launch day cut: "seven tip calculators, three flashlight applications, nine Bible-related entries, two Zen garden applications, five blackjack games, and almost 10 percent of the entries are ebooks. There is an application to simulate the playing of a tiny violin to console your friends, a Light Saber emulator, an application that gives you a cartoon eye, and two applications that simulate the look of a beer mug."

A $0.99 "flashlight" app that does nothing but turn the screen white seems like a dubious inclusion in the "500+" claim. Others include a $2.99 app called "Looky" that provides Google Suggest capability, which Google provides for free. My favorite is "Hold On!", which records how long you can hold your finger on an on-screen button (with "records").

As for the "doubling up of the free apps," I see more free "ad-supported" versions than "demos." Double-counting "demos" would be really obnoxious, but fully-functional ad-supported versions are less so, IMO. One nice-looking example for Flickr users: Exposure (free ad-supported, $9.99 w/o ads), a Flickr browser that has a "Near Me" feature which uses the iPhone's location capabilities (including 1st-gen iPhones) to browse photos near you.

Re:"500"

[bnenning]

A $0.99 "flashlight" app that does nothing but turn the screen white seems like a dubious inclusion in the "500+" claim.

It's surprisingly useful if you're ever poking around behind desks. It's also approximately 5 lines of code; there are multiple free versions for jailbroken iPhones. Unfortunately one result of Apple restricting development and charging for keys is that users will get nickel-and-dimed for apps that would normally be free.

Re:"500"

[FireBreath]

I do support for pdas and get asked daily by somebody who's not tech-savvy enough to "find the good stuff" (however that might be) for somewhere to go to get new apps/ringtones/etc, for their phones. With the release of the iPhone tomorrow, having an official place to suck these types of people into, and likely being backed by every service provider that's selling the iPhone, tons of folks are going to blindly stumble into the Apps Store and spend because it's easy, and because it's there. Cost is less of an issue if you're led to believe that you're in the best (or the only) place to get something.

Re:"500"

[JonathanBoyd]

There is a free flashlight program and I imagine there will be free versions of many basic application types. Besides, what does 99c buy you these days? Might get you a packet of crisps (potato chips for those of you on the wrong side of the Atlantic) here in the UK, but that's it. If the apps were $2.99, I can see people complaining about price, but 99c? The real issue seems to be too many redundant apps, some of them at higher prices with no extra features.

Re:"500"

[drinkypoo]

You could easily put some kind of super-easy scripting app on the iPhone and destroy 99% of the shit apps out there that will appear on the service. This is the great fear of the cellphone companies which currently make a ludicrous amount of money selling you shit which should be free. Did you know for example that if you have internet access on your GSM phone you can typically configure it to send SMS via that instead of SMS, and you don't have to pay to send them? Just to receive. Of course they count against your data allotment, but I personally don't see much point in having internet access unless it's unlimited anyway. I got a trial and used up a third of the trial checking the weather once. I got it turned off right away so I wouldn't go over and end up paying overage.

Re:"500"

[shilly]

There may be dross, but there's plenty of super-useful and well-designed apps too. In about 30seconds browsing, I found Babelingo -- I'd have appreciated having that last week in Spain.

Re:"500"

[Kadagan AU]

I don't understand why someone would complain about the quantity of free apps. If someone doesn't want an app that makes their iPhone behave like a light saber, then don't download it. I, for one, would prefer to have the option available. Same goes for a choice in Bible programs, and tiny violins, and everything else. If someone would like to create a free app, and release it on iTunes, more power to them. If they want to make a crappy app that's got a price tag on it, then they should be free to do so. If you don't like, don't buy.

Re:"500"

[tgibbs]

Yes, there was a fair amount of junk, but I spent over $30, and I didn't get everything I was interested in. And there were a lot of free apps, including one of the tip calculators and one of the "flashlight" apps (which just lights the screen up in your choice of colors).

I'd love to know what the day 1 take was. I suspect it was large.

Re:"500"

[Shag]

"seven tip calculators, three flashlight applications, nine Bible-related entries, two Zen garden applications, five blackjack games..."

This seems to happen to any "dominant" platform that offers developers a low enough cost of entry. I remember the days when people would praise Windows for having so much software available, failing to notice that in each case where 50 programs did the same thing (and there were plenty such cases), 48 were complete rubbish.

Re:That would be this...

[The Ancients]

Often by digging through Akamai's (who are Apple's infrastructure provider) servers, using common strings and hoping to strike it rich.

What do you do with your spare time at work? :p

where's the remote desktop or vnc app? or hell,

[Anonymous Coward]

why not even a ssh/telnet client of any kind. WTF apple?

Re:where's the remote desktop or vnc app? or hell,

[Dekortage]

why not even a ssh/telnet client of any kind. WTF apple?

Well, barring anything in the SDK that might prevent an SSH/telnet client from being developed, I suspect it's because none of the the currently-ready iPhone developers thought the market needed it badly enough to develop it now. Don't like it? Write one yourself.

Re:where's the remote desktop or vnc app? or hell,

[Anonymous Coward]

Or just get a better phone/platform. Windows and Linux based phones have no silly restrictions on their SDK's.

Re:where's the remote desktop or vnc app? or hell,

[2nd Post!]

It sounds like a market opportunity to develop SSH on the iPhone. It sounds like Yet Anooter SSH App if you develop one for a Windows or Linux phone.

Re:where's the remote desktop or vnc app? or hell,

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

And yet, they think the market badly needs more stupid phone based games and animated emoticons. And in an even more depressing thought, they'd probably make more money off them than a ssh client. People who want ssh clients, are probably the kind of people that don't want to pay for ssh clients. If its not free, they'll probably hack the firmware to install a free one.

Re:where's the remote desktop or vnc app? or hell,

[tgd]

VNC perhaps, but there's a bunch of handy apps (AFPd, SSH server, SSH client, shell access) that are against the terms of the SDK license agreement. Its legal not technical limitations.

Thankfully 2.0 can still be un-crippled and the Installer.app managed versions of those apps will be usable.

Re:where's the remote desktop or vnc app? or hell,

[mattack2]

How do you get a control-key or an escape on the onscreen keyboard? (I don't think you can...)

(What use is a ssh client if I can't run vi?)

Re:where's the remote desktop or vnc app? or hell,

[Anonymous Coward]

If it's your server, you could always set up Webshell

Re:where's the remote desktop or vnc app? or hell,

[notNeilCasey]

If it's your webserver, you could always install Webshell.

Re:where's the remote desktop or vnc app? or hell,

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

Good point, that I seem to keep forgetting. I don't actually have an iphone, though I was thinking about making the switch with the 3G. However, I wouldn't want to do a lot of editing on such a small screen anyways. It would be nice to simply log in run a couple commands to check server status, iostat, sar, take a look at log files and run commands.

Re:where's the remote desktop or vnc app? or hell,

[Jac_no_k]

I believe apps like SSH or third party web browser would violate the SDK agreement.

Re:where's the remote desktop or vnc app? or hell,

[Ilgaz]

There won't be any changes , it is the device. If people line up for _that_ iPhone with _those_ applications, Apple is not really stupid to give actual smartphone experience to their users.

J2ME, Symbian, WinCE, all have SSH solutions both commercial and open source.

I am particularly against the idea of hacking a device to get secure shell support.

Re:where's the remote desktop or vnc app? or hell,

[Dekortage]

You know, people keep telling me this, but I haven't seen any actual proof that an SSH client would be prevented. But I may well have missed it in the SDK license. Can you point me to where Apple legally prohibits this?

Re:where's the remote desktop or vnc app? or hell,

[Anonymous Coward]

And in an even more depressing thought, they'd probably make more money off them than a ssh client. People who want ssh clients, are probably the kind of people that don't want to pay for ssh clients.

Well there's a lesson for you to take away from all this, then:

You are not the center of the universe.

Many (I daresay *most*) people have absolutely no need - or use - for an ssh client on their phone. Your "need" for one, while perhaps very urgent to you, does not represent the needs or desires of the mainstream segment of the phone market that apple is selling to.

Don't like it? Don't buy an iphone. Or write your own SSH client with the iphone SDK. Or learn to disconnect yourself from work and engage in other interests for a couple hours each day. All of these are valid solutions to your problem, and all of them are completely within your control.

Re:where's the remote desktop or vnc app? or hell,

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

I, daresay, that's exactly what I meant by

they'd probably make more money off them than a ssh client.

You have to read my posts with the understanding that I will contradict myself halfway through my post. Because the reality of most situations lie somewhere between the several opinions. One one hand its frustrating that it doesn't do what I want (something I hold as much more useful than the other features that will be included. Basically, its the equivalent of wanting a power drill included in a happy meal), on the other hand as you pointed out the universe does not revolve around me, but around the workings of an invisible hand or two.

Warning: Don't click "Buy" if you use ShoppingCart

[douthat]

There are normally two ways to shop using the iTunes store 1) with 1-click "buy it now", which is the default, and 2) with a shopping cart, which lets you queue items and decide which to buy later.

Just a warning: App Store does NOT respect the shopping cart setting. If you login to download some free apps and accidentally click "Buy" on a non-free app, YOU WILL BE CHARGED IMMEDIATELY

Hopefully they fix this before tomorrow at 8am.

No Real Danger - iPhone A Marketplace Dud

[Anonymous Coward]

No one but foaming at the mouth are buying iPhones. The phones haven't even come close to Apple's state sales goals.

The only reason to buy an iPhone is in some desperate hope that by using it at somewhere like Starbucks someone equally as vacuous but attractive will see you using it and want to have sex with you.

Ok, one more reason. A rich guy I know actually bought one and he uses it to show off this hilarious picture of him posing with his giant pot stash. The amazing iPhone lets him spin the picture around and zoom in with his fingers.

Other than that the iPhone is an overpriced, underfeatured, crappy phone with a gigantic marketing budget.

The world is safe from the nightmare of an iPhone takeover thanks to its very own suckage.

Re:No Real Danger - iPhone A Marketplace Dud

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like someone can't afford that iPhone they really want. Don't worry, there will soon be a thriving secondary market and you can get one cheap for you poor ass.

No one will have sex with you, though.

Re:No Real Danger - iPhone A Marketplace Dud

[Anonymous Coward]

You must live outside the US, or in a cave, because I see tons of iPhones everywhere I go. That includes several of my friends and acquaintances that own one. Happy trolling!

Re:No Real Danger - iPhone A Marketplace Dud

[Anonymous Coward]

So you have dumb friends who are easily impressed marketing.

Anything else you'd like to share about your lame life?

Re:No Real Danger - iPhone A Marketplace Dud

[Selfbain]

Is that you Steve Ballmer?

Re:No Real Danger - iPhone A Marketplace Dud

[Anonymous Coward]

+5 informative

Re:No Real Danger - iPhone A Marketplace Dud

[Mr. Firewall]

The only reason to buy an iPhone is in some desperate hope that by using it at somewhere like Starbucks someone equally as vacuous but attractive will see you using it and want to have sex with you.

Hey! That's why I bought mine!

It works, too....

Re:That would be this...

[BarryJacobsen]

A bit more info, once you download that firmware open up iTunes and hold down option (shift for you windows users) and click the "Check for Update" button - it will now ask you where the file is. Updating mine as I type this, I'll post how it went when it's done.

Oh and direct link since I'm a whore: http://appldnld.apple.com.edgesuite.net/content.info.apple.com/iPhone/061-4955.20080710.bgt53/iPhone1,2_2.0_5A347_Restore.ipsw

Re:That would be this...

[Man On Pink Corner]

In other news, apple.com.edgesuite.net is not a direct link to Apple.

iPhone Developer Program

[tipo159]

By current guesses, Apple had about 25k developers sign up for the iPhone Developer Program and only let 5k in. I am sure that the 20k developers who are (still) locked out are pleased as punch that the 5k got first opportunity to get their apps into the App Store.

Apple has been giving away the SDK, but you need to be in the developer program to run your code on an actual device (or to get your app into the App Store). They say that the Simulator in the SDK should be good enough even if it can't simulate one of the more interesting features of the iPhone/iPod touch, the accelerometer.

The iPhone and iPod touch are so cool that we just put up with everything that Apple does and be happy little developers until Apple thinks we deserve to be let in, right?

Re:iPhone Developer Program

[2nd Post!]

No, the iPhone and iPod touch will sell so many units that developers are salivating at the idea of selling on it.

Just like developers are now jumping onto the Wii bandwagon.

Re:iPhone Developer Program

[Macman408]

Apple has been giving away the SDK, but you need to be in the developer program to run your code on an actual device (or to get your app into the App Store). They say that the Simulator in the SDK should be good enough even if it can't simulate one of the more interesting features of the iPhone/iPod touch, the accelerometer.

I'm still furious that Apple released the Macintosh before I had a chance to write $APPLICATION, and now it's been about 24 years since anybody has written anything for the Mac, because the first 500 applications written covered everybody's needs.

OK, seriously - yeah, it sucks that not everybody gets to be one of the first 500 applications. But, if you blow us away with your application, it doesn't matter. Make it so intuitive, pretty, and powerful that we can't resist. Find an application that meets the needs that I don't even know I have yet, then show me how much better my life would be with your application. That's what Apple does with its products (they were not the first to market with an MP3 player, but they effectively cleared the market of everybody else), and that's what you'll have to do to sell your software to the same users.

Re:iPhone Developer Program

[Anonymous Coward]

It is very frustrating. Some of the developers I know have been waiting for months. I have personally been waiting for about a month. From what everyone can tell the process is completely random who gets in but most people aren't talking about it because of the NDA Apple makes you sign to get in the program. Some people have been coding for Macs for years professionally (which is extremely similar to coding for the iPhone) and have been part of the ADC for years and haven't gotten the cert while people who have been coding for a week have signed up and received the cert almost immediately. General consensus among devs is also that this is the reason why many of the Apps in the App store look bad: because they are being done by people who have little experience writing Apple applications. I'm not saying they are all bad, I'm just saying that its not like Apple is only letting in the best. Many good developers are still waiting to get approved and I think we will see many more good apps as more of the developers are allowed in.

Re:iPhone Developer Program

[quadelirus]

The problem is getting found as the great blow you away Sudoku app when there are already 25 poorly written ones in the App store that have already been downloaded and so (maybe) show up higher in search results, only because you couldn't enter the market on the ground floor. (BTW I'm not saying that the sudoku apps in the store are bad, haven't actually looked at them myself--just using them as an example).

Of course, it may very well be (and hopefully is) that Apple has a better algorithm for bringing up new apps to users than that.

If you spend 5.99 on a sudoku app in the next week are you really going to buy a much better one in a month? Probably not, you probably won't even be looking for one. Not that sudoku is the killer app for the iphone but the app that is already available is going to have a HUGE leg up on the app that isn't yet in the store.

Re:iPhone Developer Program

[quadelirus]

I'm hoping that there aren't actually 25k devs signed up. The chatter is that many of the devs who haven't yet been certified have signed up multiple times (as many as 5 or more) in the hope that one of their accounts will win the raffle. Also, the real hope is that the dev program will leave beta tomorrow and everyone will be let in. Who knows.

Re:iPhone Developer Program

[Anonymous Coward]

I looked at the various applications being offered and not surprisingly, there were quite a few tip calculators, to-do lists and fitness logs. Just about every straightforward "enter some data and save it or do rudimentary calculations on it" application was well represented. And yes, there were a few cases where you'd have a free to-do list competing with a $9.99USD to-do list.

I don't speak for Apple and can't guess at some of their rationales but I would hope that Apple realized that it's better to reject applications once a certain threshold was been met. The very first thing I coded with the SDK was a calculator. (The second thing I coded was a tip calculator.) I'd imagine the very first thing most of those 25k developers coded was a calculator too. Do we really need 25k different calculators? No, once the first five got in through the door, that's it. Everyone else has to come up with something more clever than a calculator.

I didn't sit down and quantify the offerings but I got the impression that all 500+ applications could be divided into roughly six... algorithmic buckets; calculate something, look something up, play sound clips, save and display arrays of data, send and receive messages, and play games. I didn't see any iPhone exclusive killer apps that would convince my friends to abandon their crackberries, Androids and OpenMokos.

Now if you had a killer app and you were one of the 20k developers rejected from this initial round of offerings, then yes, Apple has much to apologize for. I personally think that's unlikely because if you had such a killer app, you'd be up on stage with Steve Jobs demonstrating it.

Re:iPhone Developer Program

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, its a pain, but ultimately what matters is that you build something really great. I built a flashcard app for the iphone , and that's my strategy. Make it great, make it free, and the users will come.

Re:iPhone Developer Program

[Macman408]

If you spend 5.99 on a sudoku app in the next week are you really going to buy a much better one in a month? Probably not, you probably won't even be looking for one.

Well, the point here is that if your application is a dime a dozen, who cares? Somebody will come out with one that's as good as yours (or close), and free. If your application is good enough to generate some word-of-mouth advertising, some the people willing to spend money on a different one in the first place will upgrade. But you're going to have more success by stepping off the beaten path, and coming up with something new.

If you're the first one to make an app that enables voice dialing or voice-controlled GPS with text-to-speech directions as you're moving, you'll make some money. But to really succeed, it has to be GOOD, and then it doesn't matter much if you're first or tenth.

Re:iPhone Developer Program

[Chyeld]

Which is why I'm sure that the list of developers 'let in' included all the groups that Apple felt they needed to kiss up to. Lets face it, Apple needs Adobe, Apple doesn't need Garage Developer #253221. At least not till #253221 comes up with something that takes over the platform, in which case Apple figures "No harm, no foul".

Not that I agree with their take on the situation, and if I ever actually got an iTouch/Phone, I'd probably jailbreak it out of principle. But they really haven't shot themselves in the foot here.

Re:iPhone Developer Program

[Admiral Ag]

You mean like that Moo Cow Music guy with the "Band" app? IIRC he's an indie developer and Apple liked his app so much that they let him demo it at WWDC.

Re:iPhone Developer Program

[kl2u]

People willing to line up infront of the store as early in the morning just to own this two gadget. Well they really break the market. cheers Find your refurbished laptop

Re:iPhone Developer Program

[Anonymous Coward]

Some Good developers have got approved it looks cool what truphone have produced on the app store. Cheap wifi voip calls internationally beats anything O2 are offering.

Re:Warning: Don't click "Buy" if you use ShoppingC

[Anonymous Coward]

Hopefully you can use your newly purchased app!! ha!

Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[mikael_j]

The first three things I decided I wanted to find (and even purchase if there wasn't a free version available were:

• SSH client - No dice, nothing that I can find by browsing and searching.
• IRC client - Once again, nothing.
• MSN Messenger/multi-protocol IM client - You got it, nothing, only an AIM client but no one I know uses AIM

Now, to my knowledge there is an ssh client available for first gen iPhones (jailbreaked) but despite this no one has bothered putting together a simple SSH client for the 3G iPhone?

/Mikael

Re:Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[riceboy50]

no one I know uses AIM

Weird. Everyone I know uses AIM and no one uses MSN. Someone should do/link to a study that breaks down IM service usage by region, demographic, etc.

Re:Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[Nukenbar]

How about a good password manager? Splash-Id is one of the main reasons I'm still hanging onto my Treo.

Re:Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[Helios1182]

United State = AIM
Other places = MSN

Re:Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[Facegarden]

Yeah, SSH on jailbroken 'pods is great. Can't wait till the 2.0 firmware is cracked so i can use legit apps or jailbroken ones!
-Taylor

Re:Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[aristotle-dude]

United States = AIM Other places = MSN

That's a bit of an over generalization isn't it?

I'm not an American but I most certainly do not use MSN.

Re:Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the reason AIM is there is that everyone who has a .mac account can use AIM with their iChat ID

Re:Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[nekura]

Good news, it's already been cracked.

Re:Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[Facegarden]

Yay! I haven't been checking much lately, but i wasn't too worried till tomorrow anyway.
-Taylor

Re:Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[Anonymous Coward]

ONE person doesn't fit the example, and so it's over-generalized? We can even include your friends and their friends and still not make a difference.

Re:Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[ed.mps]

you aren't brazilian too, certainly

Re:Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[HTTP Error 403 403.9]

That's a bit of an over generalization isn't it?

Everyone agrees that's a bit of an over generalization .

Re:Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[Ilgaz]

Well if Apple SDK disallows magnificent apps like Fring...

I am completely against buying an iPhone to jailbreak it but if you are interested, here is Fring page
http://www.fring.com/download/iphone/

Note, they don't even provide jailbreaking details since it is officially illegal and unsupported.

I gave up trying to educate iPhone owners and potential iPhone buyers myself.

Re:Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[Ilgaz]

I can bet the Agile 1 Password is in the works. They already provide function with javascript and prepare an actual application.

  Watch http://www.1password.com/ or their blog http://agilewebsolutions.com/blog/

Re:Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[earthbound kid]

You're mostly right. I would add that Japan = Yahoo and China = QQ.

Re:Been browsing and it's severely lacking...

[Anonymous Coward]

I appreciated your post. ;-) LoL!

Re:That would be this...

[BarryJacobsen]

Wow, took a while longer than I was expecting (several minutes), but everything is working fine!

Downloading apps from the built-in apps store is very easy and the free ones I've gotten so far have been pretty decent. Must go back to playing now!

Re:That would be this...

[Yvan256]

And how is edgesuite.net a direct link to Apple?

good alternatives available

[speedtux]

Android is going to be about 6 months too late to intercept the wave of lock-in happening right now with the app store.

Well, I suppose Apple fanboys will get locked in, but they were locked in already.

There are some nice Symbian phones coming out, Symbian is getting more and more POSIX compliant, and it will be open sourced over the next couple of years. That's probably your best bet right now until Android. And Symbian has some nice apps available.

Re:good alternatives available

[samkass]

There are a lot of people buying iPhones who aren't "Apple fanboys", and these people will start spending actual money on apps. On many phones you'll have some random ringtones and free Java games and such, but you tend not to have a large catalog of apps you paid for. On the iPhone, if you consider moving to another phone after spending a lot of money on apps you'll have to throw it away and re-purchase everything.

Look, I'm not actually complaining. I own an iPod Touch and plan on paying the $10 for the upgrade and buying some of the really cool stuff I've seen. I'm just saying... it's an interesting market trend. It also makes me think Jobs' allergic reaction to Java won't dissipate anytime soon...

Re:good alternatives available

[speedtux]

On the iPhone, if you consider moving to another phone after spending a lot of money on apps you'll have to throw it away and re-purchase everything.

I have thrown away commercial platforms after spending considerable amounts of money when I realized that they were turning into bottomless pits for money. I think people sooner or later just naturally get fed up with DRM and Apple Stores and all that crap, in particular when they get an alternative.

Re:good alternatives available

[Anonymous Coward]

All others suck. iphone rules. and you are not a fanboy?

So, other phones come just with _random_ ringtones, and _free_ java games, eh? How about this - for my non Apple phone, I have over 5000 ring tones and 100+ games to choose from. Let's not even talk about Windows platform (don't like MS either), but there too is probably plethora of options.

Don't be such a cocksucker. There are better phones with better application _already_ available in the market.

But never mind me - please go back to blow Steve Jobs.

Re:good alternatives available

[slycrel]

For what it worth, the apps that you purchase are tied to your itunes account, not to the phone. If you wipe your phone and go "buy" them again, it will notify you that you have already purchased the app and let you download it for free.

Re:good alternatives available

[jaysones]

I think people sooner or later just naturally get fed up with DRM and Apple Stores and all that crap, in particular when they get an alternative.

You may think that but all evidence points to the exact opposite of what you're saying. Apple stores and the DRM'ed iTunes store are more popular every day. This has the benefit of facts. What makes you think the reverse is true?

We're in trouble now, Tonto...

[argent]

The iPhone and iPod touch are so cool that we just put up with everything that Apple does and be happy little developers until Apple thinks we deserve to be let in, right?

Speak for yourself, Kemosabe.

bad link

[RustinHWright]

I clicked on your link and got a dead page. You might want to try again.

Re:bad link

[Kredal]

he meant http://iflipr.com/

if you leave off the http:/// it gets added to the local domain....

Who says Slashvertising doesn't work?

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet America... the Slashdot does the advertising FOR YOU!!!

What a country!

Re:That would be this...

[mr_matticus]

Because edgesuite.net is part of Akamai, which hosts Apple content. Almost half of the iTunes Store links are on edgesuite servers.

Re:That would be this...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure it is. It's not a direct link to Apple.com, but none of them ever are.

A bit late?

[Mystery00]

I've already installed a lot of applications onto my iPod Touch through the hacked installer.

On top of that they want me to pay for a firmware upgrade that will allow me to install programs from their store.

I'm definitely not paying to get the "privilege" of installing applications from the app store when I can do so already, and for something that should have been included when the iPhone/iPod Touch first came out.

Another

[Anonymous Coward]

is that you joke...

You're so witty and original.

Re:Another

[Anonymous Coward]

It is you!

[ducks incoming chair]

You're surprised?

[MacDork]

why not even a ssh/telnet client of any kind. WTF apple?

You're never going to see ssh. They don't want you executing commands that might amount to an application. It's expressly forbidden. It's the same reason that Sun scrapped their plans to port Java. It's the reason you'll never see a third party browser like Opera or Mozilla on it. There's also not going to be VoIP or P2P. Period. It ain't happening. Hell, you're lucky to get ANY apps past Apple. Look at TomTom. They went to the trouble of developing an app only to scrap the app and drop out of the developer program thanks to Apple's ridiculous policies.

Am I'm sure they truly don't care. Apple obviously doesn't get it. They're too stupid to see why their device is such a miserable failure. They didn't want 3rd party developers on the iPhone in the first place, so they gave us a "web SDK." Now they're just thumbing their nose at us. The iPhone remains a craptacular device thanks to Apple policy of intentionally crippling the hardware and screwing developers. If you want serious mobile apps, but a different phone. If you want a feature phone that does two or three things well and sucks tremendously at everything else, the iPhone may just be perfect for you.

Re:That would be this...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah. That link broke my iphone...

So I synced my iphone today....

[PowerEdge]

I docked my iphone to my pc like any other day, today, Apple wanted to install a new iTunes, sure, go ahead. Then it wanted to stuff Safari at me, no thanks. Oh, there is a software update for your iPhone. Apply.

iTunes crashes, my iphone is stuck at a Apple logo and the swirly. Waited about 45 minutes. WTF? Rebooted my system. Rebooted the iPhone. It has the little logo plug me into itunes.

So, I did. It says it needs to restore the iphone, ok, restoring. 30 minutes later it is done.

Then it complains, can't connect to iTunes store for activation.

Disconnect and reconnect about 5 times.

Got a page, SORRY IPHONE ACTIVATIONS NOT AVAILALBE AT THIS TIME.

So, I have no phone today, or tunes, or jack and shiiiit.

Re:So I synced my iphone today....

[Anonymous Coward]

I just wanted to say this:

HA HA HA HA!!!

Re:So I synced my iphone today....

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, if it wasn't for the importance of me having a phone today, as I was expecting to do a ton of business today, I'd be laughing too.

Why Apple forces people to use the damn iTunes to activate their phones, escapes me. Especially on a day like today.

I hear a lot of people are buying shiny new iPhones today, that are worthless because they won't activate. So Apple is sending them home with some BS that it will activate on their home system. After they've installed iTunes+QUICKTIME+SAFARI etc... And when they plug their precious iPhone in, it won't activate.

That I can laugh at.

How many people are taking a sick day today, to play connect the dock into the iPod game and see if it actiavtes now!!!

Re:So I synced my iphone today....

[PowerEdge]

That AC is me. I was too distracted by playing the dock game, I forgot I had logged out.

Re:So I synced my iphone today....

[aclarke]

I just bought an iPhone here in Canada. They couldn't activate it in the store, but they said to take it home and plug it into iTunes and hopefully some time it would activate.

I still can't get into iTunes, but somehow my iPhone automagically activated itself anyway. I just can't sync with my computer yet, I guess.

For my part, it doesn't matter as I also happen to have my old phone, and my wife's phone with me as I haven't ported my number over yet. I figured I'm covered with 3 mobile phones for the day ;-)

Re:That would be this...

[Graff]

Same here, performed the restore with that file and it's all been working perfectly.

Just a note: you might get a .zip extension on that file after downloading it, just remove the .zip extension and perform the restore. It will take a bit but it seems to be official and it works just fine. I'm using apps and fooling around with the new features.

BTW - the new Remote app is pretty cool. Remote control of your Apple TV or the iTunes libraries on your computers, it works seamlessly. Very neat.

Re:That would be this...

[g-san]

I'm tempted but hmmm... this article claims the GM build number is 5A345. I know it's akamai, but look at that url, who knows what that file is. if someone can post some MD5 checksums that prove it's legit, I'm all in.

testing

[lbane]

testing

sdhf odsig

[lbane]

erger rgeger