Earlier this month, the iTunes Store announced "Rewind 2009" identifying the best of 2009 on iTunes. The iTunes App Store Rewind 2009 page lists the best apps of 2009 as selected by the App Store staff and the top selling apps of the year. There are separate lists for game apps and non-game apps. Browsing these lists is a useful way to discover some great apps. Since I don't really talk about games on iPhone J.D. (with one recent exception), I'll just list here the "best" and "top selling" non-game iPhone apps. These are in alphabetical order; Apple doesn't rank the lists. All prices are current, but note that many of these prices reflect holiday sales so these apps may cost more in a few days.
Best of 2009, as selected by the App Store Staff:
- 20 Minute Meals - Jamie Oliver ($4.99)
- Awesome Note (+ToDo) ($3.99)
- BeejiveIM with Push ($6.99) — supports all the major instant messaging protocols, and because it uses push notifications it works even when you are not running the app
- CBS Sports: Live College Games ($4.99)
- CNBC Real-Time (free) — the only free app that provides real-time stock quotes
- ColorSplash ($1.99) — converts a photo to black and white and lets you add color to a specific part of the picture to create a dramatic effect
- Convertbot ($0.99) — I use this one all the time to convert between various units
- Credit Card Terminal ($0.99)
- ESPN ScoreCenter (free) — I have several apps to track sports scores, but this is probably my favorite
- Fandango Movies - Times & Tickets (free)
- Flight Update Pro - Live Status + TripIt ($9.99)
- Golfshot: Golf GPS ($29.99) — keep score, GPS rangefinder with distances, aerial views of 26,000 courses, etc.
- I Am T-Pain ($0.99) — Auto-Tune your voice to sing along with music
- Leaf Trombone: World Stage ($0.99) — my review is here
- Magellan RoadMate 2010 ($79.99)
- Mathemagics - Mental Math Tricks ($1.99)
- Mover+ ($1.99) — send files between two iPhones
- Musée du Louvre (free)
- NBA League Pass Mobile ($39.99) — watch live games on your iPhone
- NearestWiki ($1.99) — requires iPhone 3GS; provides information about your surroundings
- Pano ($1.99) — turn iPhone pictures into panoramas. I haven't tried Pano, but I use a similar program called AutoStitch ($1.99) which works very well.
- ReelDirector ($7.99) — turn video clips into polished movies on the iPhone 3GS
- (Shazam)RED ($4.99) — (PRODUCT) RED version of the popular Shazam app
- SketchBook Mobile ($1.99)
- SmackTalk! ($0.99) — a voice-altering app featuring animated animals
- Star Walk - 5 Stars Astronomy Guide ($2.99)
- Storyboard Composer ($19.99)
- Tweetie 2 ($2.99) — I haven't tried this Twitter client, but it gets great reviews. I instead currently use and love Twitterific Premium ($4.99)
- Vintage Video Maker ($2.99) — make your video look like a movie from the 1920s or the 1960s. I haven't tried this app, but you can see some sample videos here. What I find interesting is that even though the iPhone 3GS takes videos of somewhat limited quality, that doesn't matter when you apply effects like this.
- Zipcar (free)
Top Selling of 2009:
- AIM ($2.99)
- AppBox Pro ($0.99) — contains 18 different utility apps
- Camera Genius ($1.99)
- Camera Zoom 2 ($0.99)
- CNN Mobile ($1.99)
- ColorSplash ($1.99) — converts a photo to black and white and lets you add color to a specific part of the picture to create a dramatic effect
- Documents to Go [the version without Exchange support] ($9.99) — I've discussed this app many times on iPhone J.D. including: 6/22/09, 6/25/09, 8/4/09, 8/17/09
- ESPN Radio ($2.99)
- Family Guy ($1.99)
- FlightTrack Pro - Live TripIt Flight Status Tracker ($9.99)
- Golfshot: Golf GPS ($29.99) — keep score, GPS rangefinder with distances, aerial views of 26,000 courses, etc.
- I Am T-Pain ($0.99) — Auto-Tune your voice to sing along with music
- iBird Explorer PRO ($29.99)
- iEmoji ($0.99)
- iSoda (iWater, iCola and more) ($2.99)
- MobileNavigator North America by Navigon ($59.99)
- MLB.com At Bat (free) — this app is currently free because the season is over; during the 2009 season, you could use this $9.99 app to watch live games on your iPhone
- The Moron Test ($0.99) — I haven't tried this, but it actually gets good reviews; the app includes lots of trick questions
- MotionX GPS Drive ($2.99) — my review is here
- Picfree - Send Picture Messages (MMS) Free! ($5.99)
- Pocket God ($0.99) — this is a game app, so I'm not sure why it is on this list
- Proloquo2Go ($189.99) — for people who have difficulty speaking, this app lets them type text or select pictures and then the app speaks for them. The reviews are amazing because this app lets someone just carry an iPhone or iPod touch instead of a 10 pound AAC device that can cost thousands of dollars.
- Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite ($9.99) — I've discussed this app many times on iPhone J.D. including: 2/20/09, 4/22/09, 5/5/09, 7/20/09, 8/4/09
- RedLaser ($1.99) — scan bar codes and compare prices on items
- SlingPlayer Mobile ($29.99)
- Textfree Unlimited - Send Text Messages (SMS) Free! ($5.99)
- TomTom U.S. & Canada ($69.99)
- ViewTi Golf ($0.99)
- The Weather Channel Max ($3.99)
- Wolfenstein 3D Classic Platinum ($0.99) — once again, this is a game app so I'm not sure why it is on this list
Only three apps made both lists: (1) ColorSplash, (2) Golfshot and (3) I Am T-Pain. I haven't tried any of them, but now I'm starting to think that I am missing something.
These lists reveal some disagreements on which apps are best. For example, if you are looking to track flights, it looks like you have to choose between the "best" Flight Update Pro and the "top selling" FlightTrack Pro. I haven't tried either yet. Likewise, if you want a turn-by-turn GPS app, the App Store editors pick Magellan RoadMate 2010 as the best, whereas Navigon's MobileNavigator, TomTom and MotionX GPS Drive were apparently better sellers — the peoples' choices, I suppose you could say — in 2009.
