Installer Apps 3rd Party iPhone Apps & 3rd Party iPod Touch Apps

Everyone knows by now how strong the iPhone has become in just a couple of years. It was humorous when Apple said that the iPhone would not be a platform for developers. The ‘hackers’ solved that problem right?

Then Apple got on board and decided to open up the device and finally let people develop legit applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. After 1 month of ‘following Apple’s rules’, they were able to put close to 2000 different applications on the device. In one month alone they had over 30 million in revenue and had served(1 million per day), and 60 million downloads. Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch said

And I’m not the only one who thinks that these apps are going to hit a saturation point real soon. And then it will become clear that the killer apps on the iPhone are the same as on your computer: email and the browser.

So why hasn’t there been any killer apps released in the App Store?

That’s simple. . .Apple’s SDK limitations. Apple loves rules and they aren’t afraid to write up a HUGE list of reasons why this app or that app shouldn’t be on the device. Now some of these are legitimate reasons, but some are just pathetic.

Yes there is money in the App Store but not every developer is in it for the money. Of course it would be nice for them to get a little extra change in their pockets. . .but many do it just because the iPhone is a great platform for innovation.

Since jailbreaking your device does not limit the developer in any way shape or form. I wanted to do a list of ‘killer apps’ showing you what the iPhone is really capable of.

7 - Lockdown
Ever wanted to let a family member or friend borrow your iPhone but didn’t want them to have access to certain applications? Maybe you don’t want them buying up songs(in the iTunes music store) or applications(in the app store). . .maybe you don’t want that person to not read your emails. Well now you can lock down those specific applications to a password and be worry-free.

Reason - Apple doesn’t want applications to sit in the background. This application has to sit in the background to check if you’re trying to open a ‘locked’ application.

6 - SynchStep
This application watches just how fast you’re walking or running, and then starts to play a song to match your pace. You must install a separate piece of software onto your Mac or PC, but it works where ever you have your iPhone or iPod Touch. Great for when you’re exercising and like to work out to music.

Reason - Apple doesn’t want applications to interact with other applications. This application goes into your music library to pull music(same thing happened to tap tap revenge/revolution).

5 - qik & Flixwagon
These are 2 services that let you record video and stream it live, directly to the web. Since they do the same thing(but for different services, I decided to put them as one number. As long as you have an internet connection then you can record without interruptions. Flixwagon doesn’t integrate chat(or some other features) like qik does, but the both make great applications.

Reason - Apple has yet to let any developer use the camera for video recording. Whether it be streaming or not.

4 - Cycorder & Video Recorder
Just like with #5, since Cycorder and Video Recorder do the same thing. . .I’ll put both of them in 1 spot. The main difference between the apps are price. Cycorder is free, and Video Recorder isn’t. Video Recorder has more features though(YouTube upload and encoding being the main features).

Reason - Apple has yet to allow developers to use the camera to record videos.

3 - SwirlyMMS
This applications adds the ability to do multimedia text messaging to the iPhone. This along with Mass SMS messages were something that the iPhone community screamed about for months. Sadly since Apple has only given us 1 of the 2. . .developers stepped in and answered that problem.

Reason - Maybe the same reason why Podcaster got rejected.

2 - Dock
The Dock allows you to quickly access any application installed on the device from just one screen. No more scrolling through pages and pages of applications to find what you’re looking for. With one swipe you can bring up the dock icons and find anything application you need.

Reason - Apple doesn’t want applications to sit in the background. When you close an application Apple wants the iPhone to shut down all instances of that application(no background processes).

1 - Winterboard
The grand daddy of them all. . .Winterboard(which used to be called Summerboard). This application lets you change the icons on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Not only do themes change the icons, but also the background(and in some cases the battery, slider, and other small mods).

Reason - Too Cool

Bonus - By now you may have heard about Apple rejecting the application ‘Podcaster’ which allows you do stream podcasts away from your computer.

Many of you might not know this, but this application has existed in the ‘homebrew scene’ for quite a while now. It’s called MobileCast and it’s FREE too! Sadly the application hasn’t been updated to work with the 2.0+ firmware yet. . .but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.