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Best App Awards 2008

• Maggie Shiels
• 9 Jan 09, 10:53 GMT

The App Store is such a runaway success that it has spawned a whole industry, with developers beavering away to produce applications that will not only delight users but also make money.

The most recent success story is of course the iFart. Yes, for a mere 99 cents it does what it says on the box!

It has made thousands of dollars for the creators, got its own website and given birth to all sorts of iFart sounds, including the cheekily named "silent but deadly," "bombardier" and "Jack the Ripper."

But while it remains one of the top downloads at the App Store, one thing iFart failed to do was get nominated for a "Best App Ever Award." Is that sniggering I hear in the background?

The awards are the brainchild of Jeff Scott who runs the website 148apps, so named because that is the total number of apps you can download at once on your iPhone or iPod touch.

His aim is to "recognise the best apps, not just the best selling apps, during the last year."

Well, what about iFart?

"I'm protesting all farting apps," declared Mr Scott, who told me that the nominations were submitted both by the public and a panel of industry experts.

"What is interesting, despite my own view, is that the public didn't even vote to have them included. It shows this app is a one trick pony.

"Sure you will laugh at it for five minutes and after that you will probably never look at it again," he said.

The awards are about more than that, and Mr Scott said his real reason for doing the whole thing was "to shine a light and raise awareness about some of the apps that are fantastic but not so well known."

"It's hard to rise above the noise. Unless you are highlighted by Apple or get into the top 100 list, it's hard to be found," he explained.

The supreme winner of the competition, the Best App Ever for 2008, was Shazam. This listens to a song playing on the radio, in a store, on TV, wherever, and it can tell you what the song is.

It was a triple whammy for Shazam, which also picked up the Most Innovative App and the iPhone Wow App.

High praise indeed.

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