Apps, Apps, Apps: the new digital 'it' thing to do

According to All Things Digital by WSJ, an average iPhone owner will download 83 Apps this year. 

In 2010, typical iOS device owners downloaded an average of 51 apps over the course of the year. This year, they’ll download 83, and they’ll likely pay a higher price for those that aren’t free.

It looks that smartphone users are showing an increasing appetite to use apps to add features to their phones and iOS has the leading app ecosystem. Paid app ASPs appear to be rebounding in 2011. And for some reason it does not surprise me. 

I, alone, have been downloading Apps on a weekly basis, most of which I don't even know if I'd ever use (DailyCandy Swirl), others - I'd use for fun (like Talking Tom Cat), and only a few - which utilize and organize my life (like DCRider). It's also tempting to downloads Apps that come with a very visual attractively written description and "unspoken solicitation" in the industry publications such as Fast Company and Wired. Check out "25 Must-Have iPhone Apps" by Fast Company.

Of course, all these downloads and sales from paid Apps - are great news for Apple, which hopes to collect an estimated $538 million in revenue from the App Store in calendar 2011. iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users are now downloading over 32.3 million apps per day - nearly triple the 11.9 million daily rate of iTunes tracks downloaded.

And since there are millions of Apps available for downloads that tailor to each and every interest, profession, hobby and 'freakness', my colleagues in journalism might want to know about a few already built-in iPhone Apps, which could come in handy on a job.

Top 3 Built-In iPhone Apps for Journalists

1. Maps + Compass

Whether it’s a last-minute interview or an assignment in foreign lands, any journo will sooner or later end up in the position of needing desperately to be somewhere, and not being entirely sure how to get there. Enter the iPhone Google Maps app.

Enter a Start and End location, and the app will calculate how many miles you are from your destination and how long the journey will take by foot, car and public transport. It also draws a Sat Nav style line from one point to the next, so that even if you’re absolutely lost, all you need to do is follow the blue dot on your screen.

2. Voice Memos

Unless you happen to be AA Gill, a dictaphone is perhaps the number one must-have for any working journo. Even if you’re a shorthand whizz, recording interviews is essential both for accuracy and for insuring yourself against being sued. Nothing can replicate the functionality of a real dictaphone, and I would always recommend one of those over an app. But if you find yourself in a jam (or an off-the-cuff interview) you can turn your iPhone into a dictaphone using the Voice Memo app. Once you finish a recording, the audio is saved to your iPhone’s hard drive and will sync automatically into your iTunes library next time you connect, making backing up your interviews a breeze.

3. Notes

Not fancy, this, but it does what it does very well. A journalist is always thinking – poring over story ideas,  questions, deciding on which contact to call, trying to come up with the perfect intro. Instead, make your notes on Notes. Sometimes I write down my groceries list, a list to do, and/or a shopping list for a trip I need to take.
 
The functionality of this app really isn’t great, if we’re honest. You start a new note, you type it up using the normal virtual keyboard, you save and it’s added to your list of notes, which is organised by Last Modified. That’s about it. You can’t sync these notes with your laptop - but hopefully Steve Jobs would change it for iPhone 5. Still, it's better than an old-fashioned notes book, for which you might not have space in your bag.

Please share what built-in app you like and why?And yes, I wish the built-in Weather forecast was not by Yahoo! You can actually replace it for $0.99, check out which built-in iPhone Apps you can replace here. Just make sure they are legal....