With the release of iTunes 7.7, applications for the iPhone are now live in the store. It's reported there will be roughly 500 applications available in the iPhone App Store at launch. There appear to be less than 300 iPhone Apps at this time, with 105 being free applications.

iPhone App Store is now live in iTunes 7.7

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Applications range from free to $29.99 (French Dictionary and Thesaurus, Italian-English Translation Dictionary), with most apps settling in under $10. There are certainly a large number of free applications which include social networking apps from Facebook and mySpace and the long awaited AIM Instant Messenger from AOL.

There are quite a few games for the iPhone and these appear to be the standouts.

• Super Monkey Ball
• Cro-Mag Rally
• Texas Holdem'
• Critter Crunch
• Ms. Pac Man
• Tetris
• Mondo Solitaire

Super Monkey Ball is expected to be a best selling game

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Classics like Ms. Pac Man are available

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There is only one Texas Hold'em app, but it appers to be a good one.

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For those who traded in their Windows Mobile or Palm OS smartphone, you'll be pleased to see SplashData's applications have been ported over to the iPhone. SplashID and SplashShopper have both made it into the iPhone App Store.

What's Missing?

There are more than a few major developers who are not in the iPhone App Store. As expected, SlingPlayer Mobile is not among the newly released apps as the company has yet to be accepted by Apple. The company has a SlingPlayer Mobile app for iPhone working, but it currently requires that you jailbreak your iPhone, something most will people will not do given the availability of official third party apps. Major game developers like EA and mobile game developer Astraware are also absent. Theme applications, or the ability to customize the look of icons on your iPhone, also do not appear in the store. If you want to play Texas Hold'em, there is only one application and that's from Apple.

Finally, the new iPhone 3G includes GPS, yet there are no applications that offer real-time guidance. TomTom, who develops GPS units and software, has their software working on the iPhone, but they are also waiting for acceptance into the iPhone Developer Program.

All in all, the release of iPhone Software Update 2.0 coupled with the iPhone App Store is exciting news for both new and existing iPhone owners. In the coming weeks, don't be surprised if we see applications get added at a rapid pace. To discuss new applications, we've set up a new iPhone App Store forum. If you have questions or would like to share a review, head on over and join the discussion. Not a member, register today.