5 iPhone Apps I'd Like To See From Apple
After a few weeks use, I can say for sure that I love my iPhone. There is simply no other phone out there that does as much so well, and the multi-touch interface is so skillfully and intuitively harnessed that even a 1 year old can use it.
I just wish it had some more applications.
Yes, I know that there are tons of web apps for iPhone out there, but I'm talking real apps, instead of glorified web page bookmarks. (And though there are some pretty awesome native apps that have been created for the iPhone, it involves a lot of hacking on the user's part, which is something I've avoided doing every since I botched up my iPod nano trying to get it to run Doom. Though this little gem by Lucas Newman and Adam Betts is tempting.)
But since I'm not a member of the iPhone team, all I can do is dream. Here are five iPhone applications I'd like to see from Apple, along with mockup realizations by UI designer and friend, Josh Pyles, of Pixelmatrix Design. Enjoy!
An Archive.org/Ebook Reader
I know what you're thinking to yourself. Books? On the iPhone? Come on, who reads these days?
In all seriousness though, the iPhone's high resolution screen not only displays photos, videos and album art brightly and crisply, but renders text like a champ. And for the skeptics, I can attest that the iPhone renders text so well, I've browsed the web for hours on the little device without loss of vision, headaches, or eye soreness. In fact, it was actually a surprisingly pleasant experience.
Admittedly, the iPhone is not ideal for reading. And tackling a length novel on the iPhone's tiny, portable screen is in something like reading Harry Potter on thousands of sticky notes. But since Josh and I couldn't figure out an effective way to miniaturize the latest Harry Potter book into a pocket-sized version, we focused on the easier route. Dreaming up an interface for reading ebooks and Archive.org books on your iPhone that would one-up carrying around an actual book while traveling.
We looked towards the Apple Design Award winning media cataloging app, Delicious Library, for UI inspiration for the display of your library/downloadable books. DL pioneered an immersive, intuitive, and delicious looking interface for digital media browsing, and we love it, and it works. (Oh, and at the request of chief monster, Wil Shipley, here's my one word review of his app: buy.):
Click me to view in full size
Bookmarks, check. Intuitive navigation (tap the corner or slide to the next page), check. One tap definitions. "Skimming" scroll options by dragging around on the right side of the screen, ala iPod functionality in the iPhone. Browsing, purchasing, and downloading of books from anywhere. Check, check, check.
We live in a fast paced, busy world of fast food, on demand, one click buying, and twittering. I think I'd find myself reading more, in smaller chunks at a time, if this app was packed in by Apple.
iTunes Store for iPhone
This is a gimme. There is really no good reason in my mind why Apple couldn’t offer some sort of iTunes store functionality on the iPhone. True, there are issues of bandwidth when connected over EDGE, but there is little doubt that future versions of the device will have significantly faster wireless internet, and for now, Apple could limit actual downloads to wi-fi only, and if on EDGE, simply provide a browsing and shopping cart experience with lo-fi, streaming audio and video previews. (Remember, the built-in YouTube app does function, albeit slowly, but bearably, on EDGE.)
Of course, until this happens, there are other, sketchier options available to fill vacuum.
Sketching for iPhone
There are times when an image is worth a thousand words. Unfortunately, if you're Wacom tabletless, you know how difficult it is to sketch on a computer with a mouse. Good luck coming up with an image worth any words, other than "that's so cute, did your 1 year old do that?".
Ahhh, wait. The iPhone has a touch screen! And guess what's even easier to do with a touch screen than hitting tiny little buttons to type? You got it. Sketching!
Click me to view in full size
Of course, unless you have actual design talent, you're still going to get the 1 year old comments. But hey, at least your childish sketches will have emerged out of a few seconds of effortless finger swiping, rather than ten minutes of hell trashing and redrawing with a mouse or fumbling around with a trackpad.
This app could conceivably be accessed through the normal app list (for saving to your photo library / sharing) and through the keypad entry as a little button, for inserting impromptu sketches into text. (Think taking notes for class.)
VoIP Calls
Ok, this may not exactly be a full blown iPhone app, and it's also probably the least likely of this bunch, but Voice over IP capability on the iPhone would rock. Though AT&T would never sabotage it’s own profits by allowing such a feature, future capability could be based on a model similar to T-Mobile’s HotSpot @Home service. When connected only through the GSM network, calls would be taken normally, but as soon as the iPhone detected an open WiFi access point, calls would be diverted through a Skype-like service, saving your precious wireless minutes for when you really need them.
The best feature of this service, however, would be the opportunity to greet your friends by saying, "Hey, I'm calling you through the internet from my iPhone". Great fun, until you run out of friends.
iMovie for iPhone
Camera phones and Flickr are out. Video-capturing phones and YouTube are in.
Obviously the serious, independent film maker would rather lug around an HD video camera and edit at home on Final Cut Pro, but the iPhone has an intriguing blend of functionalities and purpose that could revolutionize mobile films. It’s almost certain that the hardware functionality for video capture already exists in the iPhone (developers have already implemented limited video conferencing), so harnessing it for some rudimentary mobile video capturing, editing, and publishing could conceivably be possible with some software updates.
Just shoot...

edit... and share.
Click me to view in full size
The beautiful part, of course, is that this whole mobile movie studio would be in your pocket or your hand at all times, ready for instantaneous documentation. If Apple came out with this, along with YouTube publishing, it's not hard to imagine a lot of iPhone users abandoning photography for casual documentation with video blogging and sharing. The only publishing bottleneck would be the speed of the network (currently EDGE), but until 3G kicks in, perhaps there could be an option to hold all sharing activity until a wireless network is in range. (And of course, you'd have to shoot with decent lighting, because the iPhone's camera sucks at night.)
That's it for now...
Feel free to comment with YOUR dream Apple iPhone app. Josh and I will be picking out our favorite user suggestions for some future wishful thinking on this blog. (You'll be seeing some of the user's suggestions in our iPhone app post next month!) And if you liked it... digg it! (700 diggs and counting.)
Update: Thanks to TUAW, MacRumors, MacMerc, Cult of Mac, Macworld, MacSlash and MacBytes for posting about this list, and you guys, for all the comments that have been flowing in. Great material for the next post.
Update 2: Woot, front page of Download.com, looks like this has definitely struck a nerve among a lot of iPhone users out there.
Comments
Up until this point, there have been 109 responses to “5 iPhone Apps I'd Like To See From Apple”:
The iTunes store integration is a no-brainer. I'm sure Apple will be implementing this in the near future. Of course, I'd love to see Frenzic and Twitterrific as native iPhone apps, but that probably goes without saying
If the iPhone had all this, I'd buy it today and worry about the contract later.
I would use the ebook reader all the time, I always have too many books to read and not enough time. VoIP may take a while but it has to come one day!
I think all of these programs would be fantastic for the iPhone platform. When it comes down to it, implementation is key when working on such a unique platform/user environment. I think Josh's mock-ups are great and are how I would like to see these programs designed for the iPhone if they were developed! Out of the 5 though, I think the E-reader idea is the best.
I'd be satisfied with video recording too for now, also iMovie had to be really limited to be usable on a mobile phone.
+1 TWITTERIFIC
I'm loving the ebook reader and the iMovie ideas. I would love to read books on an iPhone. The screen is so sharp and crisp making it very nice to look at. Plus, the one touch definitions would really come in handy.
iMovie on the iPhone is an interesting concept. Shooting video is entirely possible and I believe Apple is working on it as we speak. I'm not really sure about the editing possibility. Sure you can put clips in different order, but doing a lot of editing on an iPhone seems wrong for some reason.
Anyway, my dream app on the iPhone? I'd have to say Frenzic. It has so much potential on the iPhone. Until I can think of something better, Frenzic is at the top. Nice Post Phill!
The Homebrew scene is already taking care of your wishes above, check out our Apple Iphone News site here --> http://apple.dcemu.co.uk
The ebook reader is already released
That ebook one looks absolutely great!
Excellent ideas and mockups!
I'd also like to see a "checklist" functionality added to the Notes widget. The other things I use most often in Dashboard are Dictionary/Thesaurus (which I noticed you incorporated in the eBook reader -- nicely done) & Movie Times.
[...] Top Requested Apple iPhone Apps, with Mockups! 2007-08-16 9:02 | Uncategorized | Permalink | These conceptualized iPhone apps, including a mobile movie studio app, VoIP, sketching,and iTunes store for iPhone, look like they could’ve come straight from Cupertino…read more | digg story [...]
Great list! I surely miss the ebook reader on my old Treo 650, so that's the top of my list as well. The other thing I want is bluetooth GPS integration. I liked using my old Treo for geocaching, but I'd settle for Google Maps integration. Or at the very least mapping from cell tower ID to location for Google Maps nearby searching.
How about the ability to edit song information, like genre, artist, song name, even attach artwork from the camera or Safari images.
on the next generation they should put a cam on the front also so there would be 2 aand u can do video chat! but first..they need ichat
How about just Delicious library for the iphone?
With delicious library's iSight camera bar-code reader, I would think that a device like the iPhone with it's built in camera would make an IDEAL device for cataloging collections.
I do like the idea of accessing the iTunes store from the iPhone. Sometimes I hear a song, and I want it right now, so I can listen to it over and over.
My other wants tend to revolve around one theme: Being able to upload/download files to the iPhone and manipulate them in a file system.
My Top 5:
1. A crossword puzzle app where I can download .puz files from various sources (like NYTimes), and complete them on the iPhone.
2. An app that can sync Notes and ToDos between Outlook or Entourage (and Apple's own versions) and the iPhone. This is something I really need.
3. An app where I can create, edit, and store documents and spreadsheets. Like Documents to Go does.
4. An app to securely hold passwords, financial info, and so forth. Like eWallet.
5. A PIM with a "home screen", where I can see my upcoming appointments, to-dos, recently-opened documents, and other stuff all on one screen.
I think it is important that Apple make it possible for others to develop apps for the iPhone. There are a lot of apps that have a relatively small audience -- like a crossword puzzle app, and these would never be high on Apple's list of thinks to create in-house. Pretty much anything you see for sale at Hangango is a good candidate for the iPhone. The possibilities are huge.
If you "just wish it had some more applications" how can you claim "there is simply no other phone out there that does as much so well"? Furthermore, how can you claim "the multi-touch interface is so skillfully and intuitively harnessed" when multitouch is used for only one thing?
Any iPhone request list that doesn't start with Adium or iChat is pretty suspect. Pitiful list, though it got the hits that you wanted.
Stunning work. Streaming radio comes to mind, maybe a wireless video client, or even simple widget-like apps like Adobe Kuler. Again, excellent job on the mockups.
what about ichatttt!!!!
[...] First, you caught me scheming with Phill Ryu on his latest blog post: “5 iPhone Apps I’d Like To See From Apple” and even creating mockups. [...]
By far my favorite is the eBook reader as well. I think it would really be feasible!
These are very good ideas... I am surprised that apple has not released a itunes store iphone version yet. You would have thought that would have been on the top of their "to-do list".
There is an existing ebook reader out there, it isn't as nice looking or have as many features as the one described above - but you can take a look at it here: http://www.modmyiphone.com/apps/books-on-iphone/
I would love a mini version of iWork that would dump the contents into iWork on your machine when you sync. I think this would help drive iPhone and iWork sales. Win - win.
Let's hope Steve reads your blog...
It strikes me that combined with iTunes U, the iPhone could be a student's (and teacher's) killer app. All your assignments, your research goals and essays, library, schedule, grades, the addresses and personal info of groupmates. Plus, stores and shops in the area could have a special page advertising great deals for students. Once the wi-fi is opened up, and a computer will automatically recognise an iPhone nearby, you could re-open your research essay as it was when you closed it.
also, MMS
Unfortunately i think the voip will never come to the iphone. At the end of the day at & t and other phone companies will push against this too hard. This is another case where a creative solution will be destroyed due to corporate alliances.
Granted the voice mail integration is amazing...
Add QuickTime VR support.
A jillion real estate professionals would love it.
And the touch interface is ideal for moving through panoramas and rotating objects.
There are some fantastic ideas here. I was thinking exactly the same thing with an iPhone version of iTunes.
I love the mock-ups of the ebook reader. These are very similar to some ideas I had in June once I first got my hands on the phone. Take a look at the project currently being worked on....
http://code.google.com/p/iphoneebooks/
Nice post. I will be satisfied when I actually get an iPhone!
The only limitation for movies is the fact that Apple has gone all H.264 on us, and the iPhone doesn't have anywhere near enough power to encode H.264. (Although I suppose it could do 3GP, that would look terrible.)
Maybe native store MPEG-4 or M-JPEG, like some other digital still cameras, with either upload as MPEG-4 or conversion to 3GP on EDGE, and when you sync to a computer, (which would put it in the new iMovie '08's event browser, of course,) allow more complete editing and encoding as H.264?
I love the mockup of the eBook reader, though!
I have little interest in the 5 apps you list but that is exactly the reason that Apple should open up the iPhone to developers / 3rd party apps.
The incredible variety of 3rd party apps that would surely be developed would make iPhone ownership even better.
iMovie app is going overboard. How about basic things...
- iChat with video conferencing
- If I can plug my ipod into my TV why can not do so with the iphone?
- How about Keynote on the iphone
- How about (via the same dock that can display content to my TV) being able to use it for keynote presentations. Imagine, walk up to the projector and plug in your phone to present
- File Storage
- The ability to carry your personal OS X profile so you can plug into any mac and load your own desktop
- Freakin custom ringtone like the rest of the world since 1994
The list goes on and on...
I totally agree with you.
[...] Apps this guy would like to see from Apple for the iPhone: http://phillryu.com/2007/08/16/5-iphone-apps-id-like-to-see-from-apple/. Nice screen mockups! I want to add: [...]
I just now for the very first time thought, "...only eight gigs..."
Love the interface of the e-book reader. Very well done
VoIP. My #1 app-wish.
The eBook reader would be terrific and your mock-up looks great. The Newton had a sophisticated drawing capability, admittedly, with a stylus.
Is it too uncool to look for more businessy apps? How about Pages, Numbers?
Phill and Josh... this was really well done! Great job.
If you have any suggestions for Apple and Apple products, please do post them on FeVote: http://www.fevote.com/apple
Much thanks, and again, really great work.
I agree that an eBook reader would be fantastic. In fact, I think it should be blended with the iTunes store: It could carry books and magazines. You'd download them straight to iPhone and you'd have instantaneous reading for that airplane trip (or bus trip, or iPhone v.2 waiting line
.
I just want to be able to do custom ring tones
Phill Ryu
Ringtones would be great. Imagine if Apple struck a deal to allow lo-fi versions of their 30 second preview snippets on iTunes Store to be downloaded for free to people's iPhones. Now that would be gutsy viral marketing.
re: ebook reader.
- since there are already tons of books etc in palm formats (DOC, iSilo, TR), it would be good to support those too!
- don't forget to link into project gutenberg.org
[...] read more | digg story [...]
This is a great roundup of apps that would go great with the 8 I asked for a while back too:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/25/eight-apps-i-want-on-the-iphone/
Here's hoping the iPhone's home screen can scroll eventually.
Phillip Ryu
Great list Dave, and thanks!
Sketch is definitely one of the apps I'd love to see. It would be great for quick note taking when there isn't have any paper. After reading that article I would love to see a mobile iMovie type app. If this is done I think it should import any video used back onto the computer in your iMovie 08 library so if you wanted to do more than just shoot and edit on the iPhone you could take it home and refine it some more.
The iTunes store feature should have been their from the beginning but I have also been hoping for a podcast updating feature that works when you aren't connected to a computer (even if limited to WiFi only.)
Voip would simply be an awesome addition to the iPhone, there are areas where WiFi is available but not cellphone coverage. If it was free like the one from T-Mobile when using WiFi that would just make it even better.
eBooks would be fine, but not a big selling point in my opinion. I think that it would be even better if it could use the "Alex" voice from Leopard to read the books to you as well as having a written version.
Please make rotated views. I have some PDFs that I've emailed my phone so I can read them as ebooks, and find that to get the text to a viewable size I end up scrolling around. If I could rotate it, the text would be fine and I'd only have to scroll vertically.
[...] Vía | tuaw Más información | Phiil Ryu [...]
[...] The iPhone is already a reasonably mature product. Despite persistent reports of dead zones on screens and lots of requests for the landscape keyboard outside of Safari, the real interest is with what Apple can do in software next. [...]
Great app ideas! I would like to see Apple fix a few of their apps:
1. Bi-directional syncing within Mail. I'd like to have my Mail "Sent Items" synced to both my Mac and iPhone.
2. Separate my Recent call list into "calls I've dialed" and "calls I've received". Right now they're all lumped together.
[...] The iPhone is already a reasonably mature product. Despite persistent reports of dead zones on screens and lots of requests for the landscape keyboard outside of Safari, the real interest is with what Apple can do in software next. [...]
[...] Some people have too much spare time on their hands, but I won’t deny the awesomeness of these five iPhone app mockups. Especially UMA and iPhone-iMovie. Via TUAW. Thursday, August 16th, 2007 - 10:19PM | Permalink Posted in Tech Submit to: RSS feed for comments on this post | TrackBack this entry [...]
The ereader app was in fact one of the lesser deal-breaker for me, since 90% of what I use my current Kyocera 7135 *for* is to read books while on public transport. Now if they'd just hurry up and release it here in New Zealand, since my wife insists that I can't start up a 2 year contract for a provider that doesn't provide in our country...
Don't forget it has Bluetooth. How about adding some of the functionality of the Salling Clicker like controlling your mac with the phone or automatically locking the screen when you go out of range. This could be a pretty good theft deterrent when used with a laptop. But most of all, I'd like to see it sync contacts and calendars via bluetooth whenever I'm in range. I don't like the idea of having to plug in my phone to sync every day and my music choices don't change that often.
[...] Ebenso sehenswert, wie auch arbeitsintensiv dürften die von Phill Ryu veröffentlichten Mockups der eigenen iPhone Application Wunschliste sein. Neben der Möglichkeit zur Videoaufnahme und Bearbeitung hat Phill Ryu noch vier andere Vorschläge für wünschenswerte iPhone-Apps und versorgt uns zudem mit passenden Interface-Vorstellungen. Zwar dürften wir auf die angesprochenen Tools (VoIP, eBook-Reader, mobiler iTunes Store und ein Grafik-App) wohl noch eine ganze Weile warten - die vorgestellten Konzepte machen aber durchweg einen guten Eindruck. [...]
Think! Think! The thing has a microphone and an operating system, plus an Email connection. The OBVIOUS most desirable app would be DICTATION software, like iListen, for example. Then a user could dictate an Email, perhaps even to himself or herself and that would later be picked up on a home computer, saved as a file, printed, whatever. That would almost make the device a true pocket computer.
Dictation software would be the true KILLER APP for the iPhone.
The eBook reader would definitely be a selling point for me. I've actually read novels on a Palm handheld --- yup, an old 160x160 screen --- bit by bit, in all the little free minutes found here and there waiting for something else. To be successful, an eBook reader really needs something like the iTunes store to sell current titles. Nothing against public domain works (Gutenberg is great!), but I'd also like to read titles by authors not long dead.
Your friend at Pixelmatrix seems to have ripped off his logo/design from www.simplebits.com
Charming.
Apple is also missing the market of doctors and medical students world-wide who use PDAs for drug information and for calculating doses. The program ePocrates and its brethren are screaming examples of why the iPhone needs to be turned into a PDA!
Thank you for the listing, Dave. I agree with the whole VOIP thing. That would be a welcome feature, but my main desire is:
* Copy, Cut, & Paste
* Text To Speech
* Voice Dialing (to be up-to-date with other mobiles)
* Audio/Video iChat
* Replaceable Battery (to shut up the haters)
We need streaming Sirius Satellite Radio on our iPhones!
Really great ideas Phill! I love the "sketching on iPhone" idea. I always thought it would be cool to have a "Doane Paper (grid + lines) Bar Room Napkin" iPhone Aplication for sketching out quick ideas using doane paper's grid + lines stationery design.
While folks are leaving requests, here's one I haven't seen yet but would *love* to have:
Growl for iPhone!
A built in VOIP service does not have to hurt AT&T. As a former telecom tech I can tell you that all major carriers have VOIP already in use. All AT&T would have to do is lock the iPhone's VOIP settings to only use their VOIP network. It could be sold as an option to the iPhone's plan - maybe get fewer cell minutes but the ability to use VOIP for the same price. Or they could partner with an existing VOIP carrier. Bottom line is there are plenty of ways for AT&T to offer VOIP without hurting their bottom line.
Can only add my support for these great apps which I'd like to see as well, especially the ability for VoiP calls. I have pretty dismal AT&T reception at my home office and would welcome the ability to use my wireless network. I'd even be ready to switch from my present cable provider to something AT&T would offer.
As for an eReader, I think the iPhone lends itself for that. I used to spend my train trips reading eBooks on my Treo and miss that now.
Great post. These are great ideas.
@Froggy
I did NOT copy my logo from SimpleBits. While Dan is a designer I look up to, I do not feel the need to borrow from him. My logo was created with a completely different intent. Although Dan's logo has no basis for the FOUR brackets which surround his logo as a decorative element, mine was placed there for a particular reason:
My logo features four boxes representing pixels surrounded by brackets which are a mathematical and coding reference for matrices.
While the end result may be somewhat similar, both logos have an entirely different concept behind them.
[...] Phill Ryu of My Dream App and Mac Heist has his own list of five applications he’d like to see Apple port over. Of course, being Phill Ryu, he couldn’t be content to just write about them, so he enlisted Josh Pyles of Pixelmatrix Design to help him mock up concept art for the apps. [...]
Java like every other phone & PDA. There are already lots of java phone apps.
All Apple would have to do is activate the Java *built into* the CPU the iPhone uses.
This would be hot
Add Flash lite plugin, so we can watch youtube videos, or listen music.
[...] These conceptualized iPhone apps, including a mobile movie studio app, VoIP, sketching, and iTunes store for iPhone, look like they could’ve come straight from Cupertino…read more | digg story web [...]
@Josh
I am not blaming you for your logo design, copied (inspired) by SimpleBits or not, it is wonderfully executed. That alone is quite something. But your overly defensive reaction to Froggy's cursory rather comment made me wonder why else you'd engage in a fight? That said,
I'm sorry Josh, but when I first saw your logo, Dan's SimpleBits logo was the first thing that popped into my mind. I guess I'm one of the only two people that think so.
Judging from your err... judgment—that you refer to Dan's design having "no basis" for the FOUR brackets", you must be right. You look up to him as a designer because he has no basis for his "decorative" element.
You got one thing confused though, but I'm sure you have a basis for the confusion as well. In my version of mathematics, as far as I remember, the symbol for matrices was a pair of parentheses or square brackets. I don't know what programming language you're referring to, but judging from your page, I guess it's reasonable to expect your visitors are Mathematica users?
Now, I'm rather quite busy I have to reward myself for leaving off-topic comments!
This is my first post, so please bear with me here.
I, like many others, love the iPhone and think there is great potential for the device. However, I am also troubled by the lack of native third party applications due to Apple’s locked system. I have seen numerous posts from iPhone users begging to have their favorite Mac widgets ported over to the iPhone. While I think that would be great, I don’t see Apple rushing to do this until they can somehow monetize these widgets. Well yesterday, as I checked out Amazon’s new iPhone-specific web portal, it dawned on me that Apple can create a huge revenue stream by getting into the ad business, while also giving us all the other widgets we love so much.
Imagine the following:
You plug your iPhone into your computer one day and discover a new tab called myMall. Under this tab is a listing of popular retailers, whose online stores you’d like to have synced to your iPhone. Think ‘bookmarked,’ but much better because when you next turn on your iPhone you find a button on the home page called myMall. Clicking it leads to a page similar to the home page, but each new button is a native widget for the retailers you’ve chosen to sync with iTunes. Now, the appeal here is the absolute ease and pleasure in maneuvering these widgets to carry out purchases.
Imagine now that you have chosen to sync the Barnes & Noble widget with your iPhone. Then, one day, you’re sitting on the bus and see someone reading a book you have been meaning to read yourself, but kept on forgetting. Well, instead of making yet another mental note, what if you could do the following:
1. Click on your B&N widget.
2. Type in your search into a VERY simple and elegant page.
3. Have all of your results come up in the Cover Flow format, with only product pictures showing. (let’s face it, Cover Flow is great, but wasted on the iPod).
4. Scroll back and forth through the result and click on a cover to make it flip and reveal product details (synopsis, ratings, review, other formats, etc.)
5. Quickly add items to your shopping cart.
6. Pay for your items using one of the credit cards saved on your iTunes (this is already done with songs so it can’t be that difficult to build on), or enter new credit card information.
7. Have your item(s) shipped to an address that is saved in your iTunes account, or enter a new shipping address.
8. Enter a pin number of sorts to confirm my order and finalize the transaction.
I realize the process listed above ‘appears’ long, but anyone can see that the actual use of this ‘widget’ would be as fluid and simple as the google maps interface that is currently present on the iPhone. Further, with something like this generating revenue for Apple they should have a greater incentive to provide the non-retail-oriented widgets (like AIM, To Do Lists, lyrics search) that we all been clamoring for.
That is the idea, and I would love some feedback from any and all on its feasibility and:
1. How it can be refined.
2. The ideal pricing structure between Apple and the participating retailers.
3. Security issues regarding the storage of private financial data on iTunes, and any holes I'm not thinking of right now.
4. How Apple’s relationship with Google can be utilized here.
5. The potential reaction from ad giants such as Google.
6. Possible legal ramifications.
7. A list of stores that would work well as iPhone widgets. Personally, I would love to have the following store widgets on my iPhone: Barnes & Nobel, eBay, JetBlue, 1800Flowers, Nike, Best Buy, Cirtcuit City, Walmart, Apple Store, Game Stop, Puma, Pottery Barn, Ikea, Amazon, Ticketmaster, Yankees (team specific widgets?), Fandango, Moviefone, Gap (simple retailers, but no giants like Macy’s?), Expedia, Hotels.com, Sephora.
8. Oh yeah, good idea or bad idea?
[...] [...]
I have just finished two books on my iPhone setting up a web site to do so.
It works fine. I think it works better than Librie which I have only borrowed for a chapter or two.
VOIP will come in the form of iChat A/V on the iPod only. iPhone will just get iChat text.
Liked the iMovie and Book Reader.
iTunes store is a no brainer.
Needs to be an icon for games (downloadable from the iTunes store).
Good list -- man, if we had an SDK, I'd write that e-Reader myself.
At the top of my list of cool iPhone apps is an option to use mass transit and/or walking in the Google Maps, instead of it assuming you are in a car. (For instance, I can walk against traffic on a one-way street, and I can't walk on highways.)
Google's already experimenting with this at: http://google.com/transit
Also, how much do I want to be able to beam contacts to nearby iPhones over the wireless? (Answer: a lot.)
-W
PS: Cabel Sasser! Grrrrrrr!
i'd like to propose the mobipocket.com reader as the email reader if apple hasn't got it's own machination or intricate plans over google or amazon to sell ebooks for the iphone.
i suggest going with mobipocket as it includes an RSS feed aggregator in a compressed file container and can already upload/sync to mobile phones and PDA readers.
it also supports ebook websites so you can buy those bestsellers when (if) they are released as ebooks, with security tokens, etc. for the distributor/customer to feel better about clients downloading books, and it includes a good compressed, portable document format other than rtf or lit, which would be useful for new ebook users and iphone users running low on storage space to find and be able to read older ebooks and it would be easier to adopt rather than co-opt an already bustling standard and commercial industry rather than replace it, i.e. an iTunes for eBooks.
[...] Vía | tuaw Más información | Phiil Ryu [...]
[...] Phill Ryu has posted a well thought out list of future applications he’d like to see pop up on his iPhone. The list comes complete with some great looking mock screens courtesy of Josh Pyles. My personal favorite is “Sketching on the iPhone”. How cool would it be to have a “Doane Paper napkin” application for sketching out quick ideas using DP’s grid + lines stationery design! For the application you could show a rendering of an actual “restaurant napkin” with the DP stationery design on the napkin and then after you were done sketching your idea on the napkin you’d have the option to email the idea to someone. [...]
[...] You’ve heard me rant about the iPhone’s lack of cut/copy/paste. Well, someone’s come up with a brilliant video that shows how it could be done in the parameters of their existing interface, and does it as a spoof of their current tutorial. Brilliant. Which doesn’t cover some other gaps I’ve railed about. Others have noted gaps, too. [...]
Are you serious? The only decent thing on the list is VOIP.
A iTunes store? Do you really need another opportunity/venue for Apple to suck the money out of you? How difficult is it to use the store on your Mac/PC? Have you used EDGE?
Ebook??? Okay right. Battery life, bad fingers, and eye-strain...
How about wireless syncing?
How about iChat?
How about Safari w/Flash?
The iPhone is just an overpriced, DRM ridden Mac Mini with a touch screen. I'll never understand what happens to people when they first see this thing. They just feel compelled to have AT&T steal their personal information and phone calls, and give them to the NSA. If I wanted a cellphone, I'd get a cellphone, not an overpriced, gaudy information stealer. Apple, quit following money and concentrate on the thing that made you famous, YOUR COMPUTERS AND OPERATING SYSTEM!
Cute but most of these are fake,
This one will be real in less than a month.
how about iSync to a 64bit OS?
how about iSync to a 64bit OS?
hey!!! one of your apps came true!
there now is an itunes store on the iphone and the all new ipod touch
go to http://www.apple.com/
hey!!! one of your apps came true!
there now is an itunes store on the iphone and the all new ipod touch
go to apples website!
I already have versions of all these apps running fine on my PocketPC phone. Well, except for the itunes store - I use Amazon and emusic for my music because I loathe DRM.
It would be nice if the iPhone can provide Internet access to laptops like what cellular pc cards or Blackberrys do.
[...] read more | digg story [...]
[...] C’est désormais chose (presque) faite ! Steve Jobs à en effet annoncé aujourd’hui qu’Apple allait mettre à disposition des développeurs un SDK pour iPhone (et iPod touch) dès février prochain. C’est une grande nouvelle pour les développeurs et les possesseurs d’iPhone, mais aussi un sacré revirement pour Apple (cela ne vous rappelle rien ?). Imaginez un peu les possibilités qu’offrira une telle plateforme quand ont voit les superbes applications existantes sur Mac OS X ! Je continue à penser rêver à un écosystème Apple unifié, où un seul package exécuté sur son Mac installerait l’application sur son Mac, sur son iPhone ainsi que sur l’Apple tv. [...]
[...] Et bien cela va changer très prochainement car Steve Jobs vient d’annoncer aujourd’hui qu’Apple lancera en Février prochain un kit de développement spécial iPhone et iPod touch. Cela veut dire que les développeurs vont pouvoir développer des applications spécifiques à l’iPhone en utilisant les solides bases de Mac OS X. Cela peut donner de très belles choses, et nous avons hâte de voir cela en vrai ! [...]
[...] Phill Ryu of My Dream App and Mac Heist has his own list of five applications he’d like to see Apple port over. Of course, being Phill Ryu, he couldn’t be content to just write about them, so he enlisted Josh Pyles of Pixelmatrix Design to help him mock up concept art for the apps. [...]
[...] read more | digg story [...]
[...] Top Requested Apple iPhone Apps, with Mockups! These conceptualized iPhone apps, including a mobile movie studio app, VoIP, sketching, and iTunes store for iPhone, look like they could’ve come straight from Cupertino…[…] Thanks to embraceware for providing this nice story on Digg (more than 833Diggs). [...]
[...] read more | digg story [...]
The suggestion of VOIP would be killer for an iphone app.
Here is my personal file on my ihone http:personafile.com/Apple-iPhone-apps.html
More video... I don't care about VOIP. When I an near a wireless access point I would be more likely to watch a video.
Your wish will be fulfilled, Phill!
Almost a year later since the 1st post, some of these apps are done but still no iMovie or eBook reader. Any volunteers? i especially like the eBook reader look, very delicious. any change of making these apps yourself phill?
I would love to see a "power users" app where I can click on one icon and have access to turn on/off all the power sucking functions:
3G
Wi-Fi
Location Services
Bluetooth
As it is I hate having to go through various menus to get to each option. A nice central command center would be awesome.
An app to look up the phone numbers in my contact list and tag the ones that are AT&T numbers(or tag them with the carrier that is providing that service). Mobile to mobile minutes are free with my plan.
I want the keyboard to change to landscape mode when you turn the iphone sideways so those of us with fingers larger than a four year old person can type.
If Apple cannot do this, someone should be able to develop and app, right?



Jerry Brace
August 16th, 2007 at 10:18amLooks like you have the next year of iPhone apps on display here Phill. Here's hoping for an official SDK from Apple to allow developers like myself to build apps like these. For now we have a hack to get started early - thanks for the added inspiration. Sending this comment via my iPhone