In 2009 alone, we saw over 100,000 new applications added to the App Store. This is great news for the iPhone and iPod touch user, but it can also make finding the best apps a real chore. It's hard to wade through 100,000 apps, and if you focus on apps in the various "Best Selling" lists, you can end up with an iPhone full of idiot tests, bikini models, and body sound players.
To make life easier for iPhone users, we at 148Apps started our "Best App Ever" awards last year to celebrate the efforts of app developers and to raise user awareness about the best apps available (not just the top selling ones). The awards are nominated and voted on by the users of the apps themselves.
For our 2009 awards, we have expanded the app categories to 56, covering both applications and games. New this year are categories specifically targeted to the burgeoning iPhone education market and more categories for the already huge games segment.
Nominations were opened in early December for both the public and our handpicked group of iPhone industry experts. From nearly 27,000 initial nominations, we've selected our 560 final nominees. At the time this article was written, final voting had been started. Winners will be announced at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco. If you are attending the Macworld Expo, you can pick up a full list of the winning apps at the iPhone Life booth (#567). For a full list of nominees and the winners of the 2009 and 2008 awards, please visit the Best App Ever site (bestappever.com).
We asked our nomination committee to tell us about some of their favorites apps from the list of nominees. What follows are their thoughts about some of the "Best Apps Ever."
