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I’ll bet there are many, many developers out there right now trying to figure out just what the perfect recipe is for App Store mega success. Well, there’s probably no ready-made formula that will guarantee you bucketloads of iPhone user cash, but studying the work of those who’ve already done well might reveal some basic truths about what customers are looking for. Go ahead and do so by checking out Apple’s recently released list of the top apps of all time (iTunes link).

Basic Truth #1: iPhone users like shooting things, or at least pretending to. That’s probably not very accurate, but there are two shooting-related apps among the top 20 paid apps, iShoot and iHunt. Shooting also occurs in Fieldrunners, but not in such a hands-on manner. I think the list of free apps might be more illuminating in some ways, since no doubt the 99 cent price point of many of the paid apps might have had more to do with their success than the content or function of the app itself. At least I sincerely hope that’s why iFart Mobile got a spot.
Among the top 40 (20 paid and 20 free), I have a few personal favorites, and quite a few have me scratching my head. The best, in my opinion, are:

Bejeweled 2 — Honestly, I’m a little surprised I’m including this one too, but recent events have made me realize just how perfect the marriage of the iPhone’s touch interface and this inane, time-killing game truly is. 427,962, level 24 on Classic mode, that’s how perfect.

Shazam — Not only is it actually really handy for when you’re listening to the radio or watching a movie or TV show and can’t quite place a great song, but this is also the ultimate ambassador app. Not everyone is familiar with the iPhone’s vast app library, but almost everyone knows about “the one that guesses what song’s playing,” and almost everyone wants to see it in action.

Pocket God — It was either this or Koi Pond, but Pocket God to me represents what Koi Pond paved the way for, and also what it should aspire to become. The regular updates, or “installments,” make sure this is one app that actually retains a space on my springboard even when other, more useful apps come and go.

Remote — The father of all apps, Apple’s own Remote for use with iTunes on your laptop or desktop computer. I use this constantly, since I have my iTunes on my Mac mini and a multi-room speaker system set up using Airport Expresses. Would like it to work with Quicktime, too, but it’s still more than wonderful for a free app.

Movies — I use this all the time to buy movie tickets en route to the theater. I love it, and love not having to print anything out. Built-in trailers and Rotten Tomatoes round it out very nicely.

By and large, it looks like the goodies are generally rising to the top, though there are the few exceptions I’ve already mentioned. I think that the new capabilities open to developers in iPhone 3.0 will shake up the landscape quite a bit, so look for a much different list the same time next year.

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Getting your baby to smile for the camera long enough to take a perfect picture can be a challenge. Using BabyCam’s sound button to play one of the app’s fifteen prerecorded noises—bells, drums, doorbells and songs including “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” helps. For pictures of your kids in action try QuadCamera, which takes four to eight continuous pictures and then turns them into one image. (Baby Cam $.99/QuadCamera $1.99)

 BabyCam

Scribble

Nursing Tracker

Lose It!

BigOven

aSleep Kids / WhiteNoise

Toddler Cards

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Does your dad hit the links? Maybe with his socks pulled up to the knee? His fashion sense may be irredeemable, but teeing off with GolfCard can up the cool factor a bit. This app keeps track of scores and analyzes trends in a player’s game by comparing it to previous rounds. Find local greens with the GPS range finder and track ball distance too. When the round is over, he can email his scores to everyone he just played with or upload them to the golf social networking site, Oobgolf.com. (GolfCard, $7.99)

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Remember when cell phones were just for making calls? The new iPhone 3G, which launched on July 11, dials phone numbers, but it also runs some 800 add-on applications — developers are creating more daily — that enable you to compare hotel room prices, read Shakespeare, even examine brain scans. About a quarter of the miniature applications, or apps, are free (others mostly cost less than $10 each), so Apple users are snapping them up like candy, with 10 million downloads so far. Glitches may be common as the programs work out their debut-stage kinks, but here are our picks for the coolest of the free programs.

1.  Sorting the Jewels from the Junk in the iTunes StoreX
2. PandoraX
3. MidomiX
4. RemoteX
5. YelpX
6. ShoZuX
7. NYTimesX
8. WritingPadX
9. StanzaX
10. JottX
11. Google Mobile AppX
12. InstapaperX
13. PodcastX

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