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"The iPhone 3G will be descending on populations all across the globe this Friday, with a staggered rollout set according to time zones. Which is all good and well (mostly, anyway; see Walt Mossberg\u2019s preview). \nNothing like a cool new device to close out a hot summer week, right? Sure. Much more important, however, is the associated iPhone 2.0 software update. The arrival of the new software package is something that has many in the consumer crowd eager to outfit their flash drives with an array of third-party developments by way of the long-awaited iPhone App Store.\nThe question now is, what can we expect to see this week, and what won\u2019t we see? Here are some names that we think will whet your palates.\nSocial Networking:\nLoopt\nThis one\u2019s been talked about quite a bit. It will help iPhone users connect with fellow Loopt members and let you know whether friends are across town or just down the block. Send messages and photos if you like. Maintain a journal/blog of your time out in the world, too. The service\u2019s demonstration at Apple\u2019s WWDC 2008 conference signified the potential for location-based services, whether they be social or simply informational in a geographic and directorial sense (which Loopt is, in part. It lets you find interesting places and events shared by network members, and vice versa).\nSpotJots\nAlso built with user location in mind, SpotJots allows users to microblog their way through life with a geo-tagging element tossed in for good measure. If you manage a microblog, but think that providing friends with your location would help some in making sense of the \u201Cspacial\u201D dimensions of your social network, this one\u2019s definitely a goodie. Unfortunately, a native iPhone-friendly SpotJots application won\u2019t be distributed this week. The service, developed by Ten23 Software, is scheduled to hit the shelves roughly around the first week of August.\nTwitterific\nWhat does it take to get premium placement on Apple\u2019s website, anyway? Twitterific for iPhone, which just so happened to nab a 2008 Apple Design Award for \u201CBest iPhone Social Networking Application\u201D in June, is pretty impressive. According to Apple\u2019s site:\n\u201CTwitterrific uses iPhone OS technologies extensively including Core Location to integrate geographic location and help people communicate their whereabouts, Core Animation for subtle animation effects to reinforce state changes, WebKit for the built-in browser view and integration with Safari, libxml to provide the fastest and most efficient parsing of XML data returned by the Twitter REST API, and integration with Maps making it easy for people to locate friends, family or co-workers.\u201D\nPublishing:\nTypePad\nThis is another item that was featured during the iPhone-centric WWDC keynote, and quite an attractive one, I must say. The application allows the user to quickly post text and photos to the Web, all very intuitively. SixApart, the creator of the TypePad platform, had previously launched a piece of software for the iPhone, but it was Web-based. The native option to soon debut will undoubtedly operate in smoother fashion. And it\u2019s integration with the device\u2019s camera utility is a great convenience.\nNews Reading:\nAP Mobile News Network\nAlso demonstrated at WWDC was the AP\u2019s Mobile News Network program, which builds upon the concept first introduced through its Web-based iPhone service APnews.com. It will be available free from the App Store later this week.\nNetNewsWire\nThis one is certainly the most appealing option for the category currently. That\u2019s because the AP\u2019s feeds only give you so much variety. NewsGator\u2019s NetNewsWire, on the other hand, is as customizable as can be. Crafted for a preliminary demo at WWDC (Clint Ecker of Ars Technica seemed to enjoy a trial run of the application), was purportedly ready for a launch in the middle of June, so cross your fingers. If you\u2019re hoping to pull feeds from multiple sources, this one is definitely something to watch for.\nPhoto Browsing/Sharing:\nPhanfare\nWe shared the news of Phanfare's iPhone support last month. Like the SixApart's TypePad application, Phanfare utilizes the iPhone's camera to take pictures and upload them to the Web, along with titles or captions. There they can be edited, browsed, and shared according to your account preferences.\nEntertainment:\nAOL Radio\nConventional radio may not be seeing the kind of audience that it had a decade or so ago, when the iPod was still just a figment of the imagination. But it\u2019s still around. Over-the-air, over-the-Web, from zero gravity. Whichever. You can get radio any way you like these days. And AOL appears to have spent time ensuring the relevancy of its own digital audio streams as well as some 150 CBS channels by piecing together an application that will determine through Apple\u2019s Core Location technology a user\u2019s position, and present choices for quick and easy listening, either over Wi-Fi or even over a cellular connection.\nMiscellaneous:\nWhere The Locals Eat\nWe touched on this startup some days ago, at which time they notified us of an iPhone application launch scheduled for July 11. Simply put, Where The Locals Eat gives you a list of the Top 100 restaurants, segmented by food type, in 50 American cities.\n... And The Question Marks:\nXM Radio\nYes, there\u2019s still that merger with Sirius Radio up in the air (so to speak), but according to Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer of XM, Vernon Irvin, the satellite radio broadcaster is working on an iPhone client. Given the likelihood that an such a service will require a monthly fee from users, though, I\u2019d put my money on AOL Radio coming out far ahead in download count when all is said and done.\nSlingPlayer MobileWe all know it\u2019s coming, but when exactly is a mystery. Sling Media hasn\u2019t been known for its expedience when shipping products. Estimates run into 2009 for this iPhone application.\nAOL IM\nIt was demonstrated at a gathering at Apple\u2019s home campus earlier this year, but the company has kept mum about it since. I would personally like to see something along the lines of an Apple-approved download of Adium or Apollo IM, but chances are those will have to wait. Apollo IM is presently available only for jailbroken devices. And Adium\u2019s developers explain the battle a virtual total recoding of the application for iPhone compatibility will be an arduous one. That is if they do in fact go through with the effort.\nGoogle\nGoogle\u2019s VP of engineering, Vic Gondotra, was quoted in May as having said, \u201CWe expect to have applications at day one.\u201D Does this mean a suite of localized Google Apps? We already have Google Maps. And Google assembled a portal with a half dozen or more services for use on the iPhone. What else could there be?\nQik\nIt\u2019s been proven possible. How soon \u2018til it arrives in the App Store? (Ditto for Flixwagon.)"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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