iLounge

iLounge is pleased to announce the winners of our Quest for the Best iPhone App Contest, which gave developers the opportunity to spotlight new iPhone and iPod touch software in three separate categories: Games, Business/Productivity/Professional, and “Just Plain Cool.” We selected three winners, one per category; each will receive a Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin iPod Speaker System (retail value: $599), provided by B&W, along with a $100 Apple Store Gift Card courtesy of iLounge. Continue reading to see the contest winners.

The latest edition of iPodweek, our weekly newsletter covering all things iLounge, is coming later today. iPodweek is a weekly summary of the best iPod news, reviews, and feature articles we’ve published, and it also features giveaways and iPod accessory discount offers from various companies. There’s still plenty of time to sign up and receive this week’s edition — just use the simple form below to submit your email address, if you haven’t done so already.

IMPORTANT: Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink and others, make sure we don’t end up in your spam box. Please accept emails from iLounge.com. Thank you.

In addition, our latest poll — “What do you think of the App Store so far?” —has ended, with nearly 3,200 votes from iLounge readers. Choices ranged between great to poor.

Response was overwhelmingly positive, with 67% of readers calling the new store either “Good” (40%) or “Great” (27%). Only 7% of readers felt the store has gotten off to a “poor” start, while 15% described it as “okay,” and 11% said they either didn’t own an iPhone or iPod touch, or didn’t care about the App Store. Thanks for your responses!

Our new poll focuses on the Apple’s recent single-day software releases of iTunes 7.7, iPhone Software 2.0, and Apple TV Software 2.1. Given the wide range of problems Apple had around the time of these releases, we’d like to know how they are working for you. Are all three exhibiting problems, just a couple, or just one? Or are all three releases working fine for you? The new poll, “Are you having stability problems with iTunes 7.7, iPhone OS 2.0, or Apple TV 2.1?” lets you answer that question. As always, the iLounge Poll is on the left hand column of the main iLounge.com home page. Cast your vote today!

This week’s featured photo is from our iPhones Around the World gallery, and shows an original iPhone on the shores of Cat Island in the Bahamas. To share your photos and to be considered for our Photo of the Week, you simply need to submit your own photo to one of our galleries. So get out there, take some pictures with your iPod or iPhone, and maybe your submission will be our next Photo of the Week!

iLounge’s Quest for the Best iPhone App Contest ends tomorrow night, so if you haven’t yet submitted your app, this is your last chance. In the contest, iLounge and Bowers & Wilkins are giving away three of B&W’s Zeppelin speaker systems to our three favorite native iPhone applications. To enter the contest, simply submit your application to our Application Gallery, which will highlight new iPhone software with individual listings and information for each application. One winner will be picked from each of three categories: Games, Business/Professional, and Just Plain Cool, with each winner receiving their own Zeppelin system plus a $100 Apple Store Gift Card. Entries will be accepted until 11:59PM Pacific Time tomorrow night, and only official, App Store-ready applications will be considered, with the winners being announced on July 25. Good luck!

iLounge is pleased to announce the re-launch of our iLounge Mobile portal, optimized for efficient access to iLounge’s broad spectrum of content from any iPhone or iPod touch, now with a fresh new look and exciting new features.

iLounge Mobile offers full access to iLounge’s News, Reviews, First Looks, Articles, and Backstage entries, Web App and Company directories, and also offers iPhone-formatted versions of our award-winning Library of free iPod and iTunes books.

Out shopping for a product? You can now search our database of thousands of accessory reviews, or sort them by rating to see best-in-class products, all right from your iPhone or iPod touch.

If you need to contact a company for more information about a product, simply browse our comprehensive industry directory to find the company you need, then tap on the number to place a call using your iPhone.

These are just a couple of highlights from our new iLounge Mobile portal, which can be accessed now at ilounge.com/mobile.

For easiest access, be sure to add iLounge Mobile to your home screen! Enjoy!

This week’s featured photo is from our iPhones Around the World gallery, and shows an iPhone 3G in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany. To share your photos and to be considered for our Photo of the Week, you simply need to submit your own photo to one of our galleries. So get out there, take some pictures with your iPod or iPhone, and maybe your submission will be our next Photo of the Week!

With over 3,300 votes from iLounge readers, our latest poll—“How do you think Apple has handled the iPhone 3G’s debut?”—has ended. Readers were given several choices ranging between great or better than expected to bad or worse than expected.

Readers were very split on the product’s debut, with 29% positive, 15% neutral, and 48% negative. Only 6% of responding readers said that Apple did a “Great job” with the iPhone 3G’s launch, while 11% felt it went better than they expected, although with some issues. A combined 36% of readers felt the 3G launch went just as they expected, with 12% saying it was “good,” 15% saying it was handled “okay,” and 9% saying they expected it to be handled badly, and felt it was. 39% of readers — nearly 4 out of every 10 — were at least upset by what they felt was a worse than expected handling of the iPhone 3G launch. 25% were “upset” that the launch was handled worse than they expected, while another 14% felt it went a lot worse than they expected, and said they are losing their faith. Finally, 9% of readers said they had either not paid attention, or simply didn’t care. Thanks for your responses!

Our new poll focuses on the just-launched App Store for iPhone and iPod touch applications. Now that we’ve all had a few days to try it out, we want to know how you feel about it. Is there a wide enough variety of apps, and are they priced fairly? The new poll, “What do you think of the App Store so far?” lets you answer that question. As always, the iLounge Poll is on the left hand column of the main iLounge.com home page. Cast your vote today!

We have just posted our comprehensive 10-page review of the new iPhone 3G. Battery life, data speeds, audio performance, and more are tested and discussed in detail as we take a look at Apple’s second-generation handset. A must-read for potential new users, first-generation iPhone owners looking to upgrade, and anyone else that wants the full report on the iPhone 3G. Read the full review here.

This week’s featured photo is from our iPhones Around the World gallery, and shows an iPhone atop Haleakala on the island of Maui in Hawaii. To share your photos and to be considered for our Photo of the Week, you simply need to submit your own photo to one of our galleries. So get out there, take some pictures with your iPod or iPhone, and maybe your submission will be our next Photo of the Week!

iLounge is still accepting entries for our Quest for the Best iPhone App Contest, so if you haven’t yet entered, now’s your chance. In the contest, iLounge and Bowers & Wilkins are giving away three of B&W’s Zeppelin speaker systems to our three favorite native iPhone applications. To enter the contest, simply submit your application to our Application Gallery, which will highlight new iPhone software with individual listings and information for each application. One winner will be picked from each of three categories: Games, Business/Professional, and Just Plain Cool, with each winner receiving their own Zeppelin system plus a $100 Apple Store Gift Card. The contest runs through July 23, and only official, App Store-ready applications will be considered, with the winners being announced on July 25. Below we’ve highlighted some of the great submissions we’ve already received.

Happy Fourth of July, U.S. readers! As iLounge’s U.S.-based editors are celebrating today’s Independence Day holiday, iLounge is publishing today on a limited schedule. We will return after the holiday with plenty more iPod, iPhone, Apple TV and iTunes news, reviews, and tutorials.

In addition to new stories today from iLounge editors outside the United States, we urge you to check out the Quest for the Best iPhone App Contest and Mophie Juice Pack Giveaway pages. Each contest offers you a chance to win cool prizes: iPhone developers can win $599 Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin speaker systems, and anyone can win one of 10 $99 Mophie Juice Pack batteries for iPhone or iPod touch. Submit your entries today!

This week’s featured photo is from our iPhones Around the World gallery, and shows an iPhone at the Plaza de Armas in Cusco, Peru. To share your photos and to be considered for our Photo of the Week, you simply need to submit your own photo to one of our galleries. So get out there, take some pictures with your iPod or iPhone, and maybe your submission will be our next Photo of the Week!

Today is the last day we’ll be accepting entries for our Quad Speaker Giveaway, so if you haven’t yet entered, now’s your chance. In the giveaway, Altec Lansing and iLounge are giving away four sets of Altec Lansing speakers (two Altec Lansing T612 Powered Audio Systems and two inMotion iM600 Portable Audio Systems) to four lucky readers. To enter, just fill out the simple form on the entry page. The contest runs until midnight Pacific Time tonight; for official rules and more information, see the official giveaway page. Good luck!

The latest edition of iPodweek, our weekly newsletter covering all things iPod, iTunes, iPhone, and Apple TV, is coming later today. iPodweek is a weekly summary of the best news, reviews, and feature articles we’ve published, and it also features giveaways and iPod accessory discount offers from various companies. There’s still plenty of time to sign up and receive this week’s edition — just use the simple form below to submit your email address, if you haven’t done so already.

IMPORTANT: Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink and others, make sure we don’t end up in your spam box. Please accept emails from iLounge.com. Thank you.

And don’t forget to vote in the latest iLounge Poll, “What should Apple do with the iPod shuffle?” It can be found under iLounge Poll on the left column of the iLounge.com home page.

This week’s featured photo is from our iPods Around the World gallery, and shows an iPod touch near an iceberg just south of St John’s, Canada. To share your photos and to be considered for our Photo of the Week, you simply need to submit your own photo to one of our galleries. So get out there, take some pictures with your iPod or iPhone, and maybe your submission will be our next Photo of the Week!

iLounge and Bowers & Wilkins are teaming up to bring you the Quest for the Best iPhone App Contest, in which we’ll be giving away three of B&W’s Zeppelin speaker systems to our three favorite native iPhone applications. To enter the contest, simply submit your application to our Application Gallery, which will highlight new iPhone software with individual listings and information for each application. One winner will be picked from each of three categories: Games, Business/Professional, and Just Plain Cool, with each winner receiving their own Zeppelin system plus a $100 Apple Store Gift Card. The contest runs from today through July 23, and only official, App Store-ready applications will be considered, with the winners being announced on July 25. So get coding, and good luck!

Weeks before the multi-country launch of the iPhone 3G, iLounge has started to receive the first actual iPhone 3G cases from key developers, all newly previewed in our First Looks section. Cases currently appearing in the section include Belkin’s Silicone Sleeve for iPhone 3G, and Marware’s Sportsuit Convertible, C.E.O. Premiere, and C.E.O. Sleeve for iPhone 3G. Of course, we will be adding many more in the days to come. To find out more about these cases, follow the links above, and keep an eye on our First Looks section for more iPhone 3G accessory previews in the coming weeks.

This week’s featured photo is from our iPhones Around the World gallery, and shows an iPhone resting at Two Lovers Point in Tumon Bay, Guam. To share your photos and to be considered for our Photo of the Week, you simply need to submit your own photo to one of our galleries. So get out there, take some pictures with your iPod or iPhone, and maybe your submission will be our next Photo of the Week!

The latest edition of iPodweek, our weekly newsletter covering all things iLounge, is coming later today. iPodweek is a weekly summary of the best iPod news, reviews, and feature articles we’ve published, and it also features giveaways and iPod accessory discount offers from various companies. There’s still plenty of time to sign up and receive this week’s edition — just use the simple form below to submit your email address, if you haven’t done so already.

IMPORTANT: Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink and others, make sure we don’t end up in your spam box. Please accept emails from iLounge.com. Thank you.

Plus: We’d like to know whether you plan on picking up an iPhone 3G. Are you going to be upgrading your current iPhone, replacing a separate device, sticking with your first-gen iPhone, or avoiding the iPhone altogether? Please use the iLounge Poll to register your vote: the poll is in the left-hand column of the iLounge.com main page. Once you’re finished submitting your answer, you can move the poll downwards on the page just by clicking on it and dragging it away.

This week’s featured photo is from our iPhones Around the World gallery, and shows an iPhone near the sea in Brønnøysund, Norway. To share your photos and to be considered for our Photo of the Week, you simply need to submit your own photo to one of our galleries. So get out there, take some pictures with your iPod or iPhone, and maybe your submission will be our next Photo of the Week!