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With over 100,000 apps now available for the iPhone and iPod touch, finding the right one can be like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack, Sure, the App Store organizes the apps into categories and sub—categories, making it a little easier to narrow down the field It even provides you with a number of Top Apps lists and highlights Staff Favorites, What’s Hot, and New and Noteworthy apps. Still, the apps in those lists comprise less than one percent of the titles in the App Store—-a lot of good stuff slips through the cracks!

The Best Apps (and some great accessories)

We dedicated a large portion of this issue to helping you find the best apps out there. Beginning on page 20, we look at over 90 of the best apps available for the Phone and iPod touch. This section leads off with an article by Jeff Scott of l48app.com reporting on the favorite apps of members of the “Best App Ever 2009” nominating committee. You’ll want to check out BestAppEver corn for a complete listing of their nominations and winners. Regular iPlione Life bloggers and magazine contributors Nate Adcock, Cindy Downes, Werner Ruotsalairten, and Heather Dale also discuss their favorite apps in this issue,
Although not formally part of the Best Apps section, we review other worthy apps. Augmented Reality is a hot topic these days, and we look as some of the new apps that combine virtual reality with the real world, Other articles focus on personal productivity, security, women’s healthcare, and apps that help make a busy mother’s life a lot easier.
We also look at some hot new accessories in this issue, including wireless bicycle speakers, a travel battery pack, a mobile printer, and a number of cases for the iPhone and iPod touch. One of the more interesting articles is our CES show report, which focuses on “appcessories”—a whole new category of accessories that include an iPhone app component.

Who uses an iPhone?

Describing the average Phone user is even more of a needle-in-a-haystack activity. People in a wide variety of professions take advantage of the iPhone’s capabilities and the App Store’s Variety. In this issue we profile a Navy pilot and a Baptist minister; we show how one man runs his home office with the iPhone, and we look at how business professionals use Remote IT apps to access business data and apps when they’re traveling.
Finally, we were awaiting news about Apple’s new Tablet and the new iPhone OS 4.0 when I wrote this Editor’s Message. If the rumored January 27 announcement happens, we’ll include it towards the beginning of this issue. Check the table of contents for more on this.
There’s a lot more in this issue that will help you sift through the every-growing potential of the Phone and iPod touch. Hopefully it will help you sift through the haystack of apps and find the gold and silver needles you’re looking for.