Mac news from outside the reality distortion field
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July 10, 2008, 11:29 am

A first peek inside the iPhone App Store

Apple’s App Store is open for business, and there’s a lot to see.

I count nearly 27 pages of programs, with 21 applications per page, for a grand total of 551 apps designed for the iPhone or the iPod touch.

Browsing this rich library of diversions, the first thing that strikes you is how many of them are games.

In Apple’s taxonomy, 10 pages of apps — 210 programs in all — are categorized as “Entertainment.” Not all of these are games, however. There are a lot of books in there. Charles Dickens and Edgar Rice Burroughs are heavily represented, as are Austen, Bronte, Conan Doyle, Conrad, Defoe, Dostoevsky, Hardy, Kipling, Maugham, Swift, Verne, Wharton, Wolfe, and “Leo” (sic) Tolstoy. There’s even a copy of Descartes’ A Discourse on Reason. That’s Entertainment?

The Bible, we’re happy to report, is not classified as Entertainment, although we’re not sure Reference is quite the right place for it.

There are 18 categories of programs in all, from Business to Weather. None is as heavily populated as Games or Entertainment. There are two and a half pages of Productivity tools (from Abacus to ZIPcodes), a page and a half of Business programs, a little over a page of Finance tools, and nearly five pages of Utilities.

There’s only a page and a half of Social Networking programs, but they look pretty interesting — especially the ones like Whrrl that take advantage of GPS to show your current location and that of your friends.

Travel is dominated by language programs, Sports by fitness and Golf tools.

Apple (AAPL) also sorts programs by What’s New, What’s Hot and Staff Favorites. The latter features Critter Crunch, iZen Garden and Chimps Ahoy.

Have you got a favorite or spotted a dog? Let us know in the comment stream.

Critter crunch looks like quite a clever game. Definitely worth the buy. I’m going to pick this up ASAP.

Posted By Rob, Napa CA : July 14, 2008 8:00 pm

The game population is quite high for a PDA like the iPhone, but the iPhone can handle them all with its great cpu and processor, the best game that i have come across so far has been Reel Deal Hold ‘EM. It has great character traits and a smooth gameplay.

Posted By Ben,Jackson California : July 14, 2008 5:34 pm

how do you obtain the 2.0 version in your old phone. please explain

ex ped: Plug your iPhone into your computer and when iTunes comes up, click on Check for Updates on the opening page. If you tried yesterday — along with about 6 million other iPhone users — you would have found that the iTunes servers had crashed.

Posted By Chuck, Oklahoma City : July 12, 2008 5:14 am

The roll out has been abysmal at best. Apple is saying nothing, but the rumors abound about software and server errors.

Everyone on the planet, from New Zealand to New York, Except Apple saw this coming. They should have rented the computing power of a small European country to hand the roll out day. OR at least allowed the staggered pre-installation of the required 2.0 software.

Posted By Tom Longfellow, Ellicott City, Maryland : July 11, 2008 5:22 pm

Frisbee Golf is my favorite so far.

Posted By Ben, Los Angeles CA : July 10, 2008 6:12 pm

Instead of staring off into a little screen, try improving your mind, helping others, increasing your spiritual awareness, saving the planet, eating better, playing with your children or pets. Life is so much more than an I-Phone. You are missing it. In fact you don’t NEED a cell phone at all.

Posted By Tim Golden, CO : July 10, 2008 5:07 pm

Pity Apple hasn’t been better at selecting which developers can put up apps. We’re very excited about providing a native version of our already excellent flashcard app.

Posted By Joe, San Francisco, CA : July 10, 2008 4:42 pm

Yes, well, if there is a category for fiction, that’s where the Bible (esp. the 2nd Testament) should be… and the Qur’an also…

Posted By Steve Weinstock, Airmont, NY : July 10, 2008 4:03 pm

Back off on the “journalistic credibility” attacks. Jeez. I’m pretty sure CNN links to this page saying that it’s a blog. Heck, the URL is apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com.

This isn’t formal journalistic writing, it’s not a magazine article. It’s one man’s commentary on his blog. I think he’s entitled to let a little bit of personality out every once in a while.

Posted By Steve, Omaha, NE : July 10, 2008 3:12 pm

Oh easily offended people, just chill out. We’ll just put it wherever you believe the Qu’uran should go.

Posted By Alechemist, Chapel Hill, NC : July 10, 2008 2:47 pm

I’d say the Remote app, made by Apple, is going to be the biggest app for a while. It lets you control iTunes or an Apple TV from your iphone or iPod touch. Yeah, you could do it before, but this is a step up I’d guess. If it does what I want I won’t have to have a computer on - or a TV - to play music with my Apple TV.
Murphy Mac - Over 100 Screencasts

Posted By Murphy Mac, Charlotte, NC : July 10, 2008 2:08 pm

“reference” meaning it is acknowledged but not in the inventory of books. like you said; it is not entertaining. a religious symbol, is the last thing apple needs to be.

Posted By jeff, dallas, texas : July 10, 2008 12:41 pm

It is Fortune Magazine, a place with enough journalistic credibility that it should not tolerate off handed remarks related to religion. The Bible comment was unnecessary and in bad taste. Shelve the smug “happy to report” and stick to technology reporting. If the sentence was made as a jab you have proved to be successful if it was not intended as a jab then you have been insensitive and reckless.

ed ped: I wasn’t clear. I was just happy the Bible wasn’t classified with the other books as “entertainment.”

Posted By Dan, Littleton, CO : July 10, 2008 12:21 pm

I loved Solitaire City on Windows and now it’s available for iPhone - Yippee !! Solitaire City for iPhone

Posted By Michelle, San Francisco, CA : July 10, 2008 12:14 pm

Here’s what I’m hoping to see, now or in the near future:

A way to run these programs on your computer/big screen TV and CONTROL THEM WITH YOUR ITOUCH OR IPHONE.

Any word?

Posted By Sacto Joe, Sacramento, CA : July 10, 2008 11:57 am

I don’t understant why you consider that the bible is well at its place when it’s classified as “reference”. Reference of what, precisely ?

ex ped: I wasn’t clear. I was just glad it wasn’t classified with the rest of the books as “entertainment.”

Posted By Thierry Jeanneret, Terre de Haut, Les Saintes, Guadeloupe : July 10, 2008 11:51 am
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Philip Elmer-DeWittSilicon Valley veterans like to joke that Steve Jobs must be surrounded by a reality distortion field; if you get too close to him, you start to believe what he's saying. Thanks to the success of the iPod, the launch of the iPhone and the renewed interest in the Mac, Apple has made believers out of millions of customers - and made a lot of investors rich. But Philip Elmer-DeWitt believes that an ounce of skepticism never hurts when writing about the company. He should know. He's been covering Apple - and watching Steve Jobs operate - since 1982, first for Time Magazine, then for Business 2.0, and now for Fortune.
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