The final hours of 2012 are here. In 2012, we’ve survived the end of the world, no worse for wear, and it’s on to whatever 2013 holds. But as you are preparing for your New Year’s Eve, remember to submit your last minute Best App Ever nominations.

Nominations have already surpassed 400,000 but there is still a chance to have your voice heard. Nominations close at midnight, Pacific time (GMT-8) on December 31. Get your nominations in now!

There was a vast profusion of cool stuff happening across the 148Apps network this week, but the top of the top was the culmination of our 2011 Best App Ever awards. Head honcho Jeff Scott writes, “It was an amazing year. With over 1.5 million votes cast (over three times the number cast last year) and a record number of nominations, we now have the winners of the 2011 Best App Ever Awards. Thanks to all that voted, nominated, and made these fantastic apps!”

Read the full list of winners, and our own Carter Dotson’s take on them, on 148Apps.com.

Kid-friendly GiggleApps featured a review of Fun Clock-Learn to Tell Time. Reviewer Amy Solomon writes, “Few apps actually tackle explaining the true concept of telling time they way this app does. After watching the included video in Fun Clock – Learn to Tell Time, children will be will well on their way to understanding how to read a analogue clock. As a parent, I don’t think I could have explained this better myself, also wishing that this video had been around when I was a child.”

Take the time to read the full review on GiggleApps.

$1.99

Fun Clock for Kids - Learn to tell time

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-09-22 :: Category: Education

Finally, over at Android Rundown, Carter Dotson took a closer look at Apple’s recent iBooks education initiative and evaluated it for what it could mean for the Android platform. Dotson writes, “It may not have been the sexiest announcement, but Android supporters – manufacturers and users alike – should not underestimate Apple’s education gambit. Their big push into education with iBooks 2 being optimized for textbooks (both the reading and selling thereof) and iTunes U offering deeper integration with college courses could be the necessary roots they have to lay down for long-term success at the expense of Android.”

Read the full commentary on Android Rundown.

FREE!

iBooks

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2010-04-02 :: Category: Books

And that’s the week that was. Don’t forget to read a full list of Best App Ever winners at www.bestappever.com, and keep following us on Twitter and Facebook for all the contests, news and reviews you can eat. I’ll be playing Jetpack Joyride non-stop until next week, but I’ll see you back here then.

The nominated applications for the 2011 Best App Ever Awards have just been announced. This year saw a huge increase in the number of nominations placed and the number of applications nominated. The big change this year was the introduction of Android applications to the awards, with each category (other than the Best App Ever category) having a winner from each platform.

The Best App Ever Awards are the most prestigious (if we do say so ourselves) and longest running mobile app awards. Last year saw nearly 500,000 votes cast in the awards, and this year the goal is over a million. Here are a few more stats on this year’s awards:

2011 Best App Ever Awards, By The Numbers:

  287,643 nominations placed by users at the site
  7,243 different applications submitted for nomination
  1,692 different application are final nominees
  1,336 different developers have apps nominated in the awards
  109 app / game categories in the 2011 awards
  76% of the nominations submitted were for iOS applications, 24% for Android applications
  42 Gameloft app nominations, Gameloft leads the pack with the most of any publisher
  20 nominations per category (10 for iOS, 10 for Android)
  1 Best App Ever category winner (it’s iOS vs. Android)

The overall winner, the Best App Ever will be chosen in a no-holds-barred cage match between the 10 top iOS and 10 top Android nominees. Only one supreme app will reign supreme as the single best app on its mobile platform. Which will it be? The iOS nominees are listed below:

Best App Ever

The overall best app of the year. Nominees are the apps that received the most nominations across all categories
» Codea from Two Lives Left
» Flipboard from Flipboard Inc.
» Infinity Blade II from Chair Entertainment Group, LLC
» Jetpack Joyride from Halfbrick Studios
» SpellCraft School of Magic from Appy Entertainment, Inc.
» Temple Run from Imangi Studios, LLC
» Tiny Tower from NimbleBit LLC
» Tiny Wings from Andreas Illiger
» Where’s My Water? from Disney
» Zombie Gunship from Limbic Software

Voting is open now through January 25th with the final winners to be announced at the 2011 Macworld / iWorld Expo in San Francisco, CA. Shortly after, they will be posted to the Best App Ever site, and we’ll point you to them there as well. Make sure you get your votes in early, and take advantage of the social sharing option on the site to rally support for your favorite apps.

Hit the jump (or see the Best App Ever site for the full list of iOS apps nominated in the 2011 Best App Ever awards in the other 108 categories.

And let us know in the comments, who you think will win, iOS or Android for Best App Ever?

Continue reading 2011 Best App Ever Nominees Announced »

This week at 148Apps.com, we opened the floodgates for the 2011 Best App Ever Awards. Site founder Jeff Scott writes, “In its fourth year, the Best App Ever awards is a people’s choice awards for apps. Last year over 500,000 votes were cast in the quest to find the best apps, not just the best selling. This year it’s back bigger and better than ever. In a big change this year, not just iOS but also Android applications and games are up for nomination in the awards competition. Users can nominate their favorite apps and games in any of the multiple categories by heading to the app nomination page and choosing a category.”

Read more about the 2011 Best App Ever Awards on 148Apps.

Over at GiggleApps, our site dedicated to reviewing the latest apps for kids, reviewer Amy Solomon took a closer look at the new Charlie Brown Christmas App, saying, “It is lovely that children can decorate their own tree with included ornaments and other decorations, as well as a few that must be earned by finding all the hidden items as accomplishments. This area is found on the first title page of the book and can easily be overlooked as one starts to read. Please look for it. I am also smitten with the last page of this app where the characters are all shown with image and name, and a tap letting readers hear the line they are most noted for in this story, a great section for me to go over with my son as he is new to these characters.”

Get into the Christmas spirit and read the full review on GiggleApps.

$4.99

A Charlie Brown Christmas

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2011-11-17 :: Category: Entertainment

Finally, AndroidRundown writer Carter Dotson published a commentary regarding the recent CarrierIQ revelations. Dotson says, “Some of the fallout is settling from the explosive Carrier IQ revelations – naturally, most parties involved are denying any kind of wrongdoing, or even that their tools are even installed at all on the phones. Apps to search for the existence of the tools on phones now exist. As well, apparently even Carrier IQ was found on iOS devices, although Apple has pledged to remove them in a future iOS software update. Interestingly, one researcher has found that the software likely isn’t sending vast swaths of user personal information back to carriers and manufacturers, although there are still some questions about the data that is being recorded by Carrier IQ tools. In fact, a lot of this data may be used for benign purposes such as determining where phone calls are being dropped, rather than any kind of purpose of spying on user information.”

Read the full CarrierIQ rundown on AndroidRundown.

We’re done for this week. But next week brings us that much closer to Christmas, and closer to the new year. Keep informed by liking our Facebook page and following us on Twitter. Jingle on your merry way….and see you next week.

The 2011 Best App Ever Awards have launched. It’s time to nominate your favorite apps and games of 2011.

In it’s fourth year, the Best App Ever awards is a people’s choice awards for apps. Last year over 500,000 votes were cast in the quest to find the best apps, not just the best selling. This year it’s back bigger and better than ever.

In a big change this year, not just iOS but also Android applications and games are up for nomination in the awards competition. Users can nominate their favorite apps and games in any of the multiple categories by heading to the app nomination page and choosing a category.

Nominations are open through the end of the year. After that the nominations will be tallied and the top 10 iOS and Android apps in each category will fight it out for the awards. In addition, the 10 iOS and 10 Android apps that get the most nominations overall will fight it out for the title of Best App Ever.

What app do you think will win for Best App Ever in 2011?

Start Nominating Apps Now!

Today we are proud to announce the winners of the 2010 Best App Ever Awards! This year we got nearly 500,000 votes for the 609 final nominees.

We started the Best App Ever Awards in 2008 as a way to help recognize great apps from big and small developers. This year saw a record number of both nominations and votes. Thanks to everyone who nominated or voted for an app.

Check back Monday, we’ll announce our HUGE promo code contest to celebrate all of the nominees.

Best App Ever Category

Winner: Angry Birds by Clickgamer.com
Second Place: Pocket Legends (3D MMO) by Spacetime Studios, LLC
Third Place: Pocket Frogs by NimbleBit

Most Innovative App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Word Lens by Quest Visual
Second Place: EpicWin by supermono limited
Third Place: Instagram by Burbn, Inc.

iPad Division

Winner: Flipboard by Flipboard Inc.
Second Place: AmpKit+ by Agile Partners
Third Place: Air Video – Watch your videos anywhere! by InMethod s.r.o.

Best Visual Design Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Camera+ by tap tap tap
Second Place: Convertbot – The Amazing Unit Con… by Tapbots
Third Place: On this day… historical events an… by Sophiestication Software

iPad Division

Winner: Flipboard by Flipboard Inc.
Second Place: 2Do: Tasks Done in Style by Guided Ways Technologies Ltd
Third Place: Pages by Apple Inc.

Best Use of iOS Hardware Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Shop Savvy Barcode Scanner by Big in Japan
Second Place: Flashlight+ by More Blu Sky
Third Place: Star Walk – 5 Stars Astronomy Guide by Vito Technology Inc.

iPad Division

Winner: Infinity Blade by Chair Entertainment Group, LLC
Second Place: Instapaper by Marco Arment
Third Place: PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Loud Crow Interactive Inc.

Best Navigation App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: NAVIGON MobileNavigator Europe by NAVIGON AG
Second Place: TomTom U.S.A. by TomTom International BV
Third Place: Geocaching by Groundspeak Inc.

iPad Division

Winner: Waze – Social GPS navigation, tra… by Waze Inc.
Second Place: NAVIGON MobileNavigator USA by NAVIGON AG
Third Place: NAVIGON MobileNavigator North America by NAVIGON AG

Best Social Networking App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Instagram by Burbn, Inc.
Second Place: WhatsApp Messenger by WhatsApp Inc.
Third Place: 9,999 Ringtones Uncensored PRO by No Tie, LLC

iPad Division

Winner: TextNow – Unlimited Free Texting an… by Enflick, Inc.
Second Place: Twitter by Twitter, Inc.
Third Place: Friendly Plus for Facebook by Oecoway Inc.

Best Publication App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Reeder by Silvio Rizzi
Second Place: Instapaper by Marco Arment
Third Place: MobileRSS Pro ~ Google RSS News Reader by NibiruTech Limited

iPad Division

Winner: Instapaper by Marco Arment
Second Place: Pulse News Reader by Alphonso Labs Inc.
Third Place: Zinio Magazine & Book Reader by Zinio

Best News App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Stitcher Radio by Stitcher, Inc.
Second Place: Reeder by Silvio Rizzi
Third Place: iDygest by Dygest Inc.

iPad Division

Winner: Flipboard by Flipboard Inc.
Second Place: Reeder for iPad by Silvio Rizzi
Third Place: Pulse News Reader by Alphonso Labs Inc.

Best Travel App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Where To? – GPS points of interest by FutureTap
Second Place: Trip Journal by iQapps
Third Place: The Cartographer by A Tasty Pixel

iPad Division

Winner: FlightTrack Pro – Live Flight Sta… by Ben Kazez
Second Place: Fotopedia Heritage by Fotonauts Inc.
Third Place: Yelp by Yelp

Best Productivity App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: 2Do: Tasks Done in Style by Guided Ways Technologies Ltd
Second Place: Dropbox by Dropbox
Third Place: LogMeIn Ignition by LogMeIn, Inc.

iPad Division

Winner: Todo for iPad by Appigo
Second Place: Pocket Informant HD (Calendar & Tasks) by Web Information Solutions, Inc.
Third Place: Penultimate by Cocoa Box Design LLC

Best Musical App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: NanoStudio by Blip Interactive Ltd
Second Place: Reactable mobile by Reactable Systems SL
Third Place: Ocarina by Smule

iPad Division

Winner: MorphWiz by Jordan Rudess: Wizdom Music, LLC
Second Place: iBone – the Pocket Trombone by Spoonjack
Third Place: Reactable mobile by Reactable Systems SL

Best Photography App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Camera+ by tap tap tap
Second Place: PhotoCaddy – photography tips, help… by Aspyre Solutions
Third Place: FX Photo Studio by MacPhun LLC

iPad Division

Winner: Filterstorm by Tai Shimizu
Second Place: PhotoPal by MacPhun LLC
Third Place: Diptic by Peak Systems

Best Artistic App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Hipstamatic by Synthetic Corp
Second Place: Style Studio : Fashion Designer by XMG Studio Inc.
Third Place: SpinArt by 7twenty7 LLC

iPad Division

Winner: SketchBook Pro by Autodesk Inc.
Second Place: ArtStudio for iPad – draw, paint an… by Lucky Clan
Third Place: ArtRage by Ambient Design Ltd.

Best eBook App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: iBooks by Apple Inc.
Second Place: Kindle by Amazon.com
Third Place: Green Eggs and Ham – Dr. Seuss by Oceanhouse Media

iPad Division

Winner: iBooks by Apple Inc.
Second Place: The Cat in the Hat – Dr. Seuss by Oceanhouse Media
Third Place: GoodReader for iPad by Good.iWare Ltd.

Best Reference App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Articles – The Wikipedia App by Sophiestication Software
Second Place: IMDb Movies & TV by IMDb
Third Place: AppShopper by AppShopper.com, LLC

iPad Division

Winner: IMDb Movies & TV by IMDb
Second Place: AppShopper by AppShopper.com, LLC
Third Place: MyFood – Nutrition Facts by Pomegranate Software

Best Educational App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Math Bingo by ABCya.com
Second Place: TeachMe: Kindergarten by 24x7digital LLC
Third Place: Pocket Universe: Virtual Sky Astronomy by Craic Design

iPad Division

Winner: Math Bingo by ABCya.com
Second Place: Star Walk for iPad – interactive as… by Vito Technology Inc.
Third Place: TED by TED Conferences

Best Kids App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Grimm’s Rapunzel – 3D Interactive P… by Ideal Binary, Ltd.
Second Place: Stack the States by Dan Russell-Pinson
Third Place: Voices 2 ~ fun voice changing! by tap tap tap

iPad Division

Winner: Stack the States by Dan Russell-Pinson
Second Place: Grimm’s Rapunzel – 3D Interactive P… by Ideal Binary, Ltd.
Third Place: PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Loud Crow Interactive Inc.

Best Young Adults App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: inClass by OneZeroWare
Second Place: iStudiez Pro by Andriy Kachalo & Michael Balashoff
Third Place: NASA App by NASA

iPad Division

Winner: iStudiez Pro by Andriy Kachalo & Michael Balashoff
Second Place: inClass by OneZeroWare
Third Place: The Elements: A Visual Exploration by Element Collection, Inc

Best Parenting App Category

iPhone Division

Winner: iRewardChart: Parents Reward Tracke… by Gotclues, Inc
Second Place: Kidopolis by Apps for Parents, LLC
Third Place: HomeRoutines by Wunderbear

iPad Division

Winner: iStudiez Pro by Andriy Kachalo & Michael Balashoff
Second Place: Chore Pad HD by Nannek
Third Place: Serving Sizer Pro Recipe Cards for … by Creative Algorithms

Most Innovative Game Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Angry Birds by Clickgamer.com
Second Place: Cut the Rope by Chillingo Ltd
Third Place: Infinity Blade by Chair Entertainment Group, LLC

iPad Division

Winner: Osmos for iPad by Hemisphere Games
Second Place: The Incident by Big Bucket Software
Third Place: Infinity Blade by Chair Entertainment Group, LLC

Best Game Graphics Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Real Racing 2 by Firemint Pty Ltd
Second Place: Infinity Blade by Chair Entertainment Group, LLC
Third Place: Spirits by Spaces of Play

iPad Division

Winner: Zen Bound® 2 Universal by Secret Exit Ltd.
Second Place: Infinity Blade by Chair Entertainment Group, LLC
Third Place: Osmos for iPad by Hemisphere Games

Best Game Controls Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Angry Birds by Clickgamer.com
Second Place: Tilt to Live by One Man Left
Third Place: Mirror’s Edgeâ„¢ by Electronic Arts

iPad Division

Winner: The Incident by Big Bucket Software
Second Place: Alien Space by Owens Rodriguez
Third Place: Infinity Blade by Chair Entertainment Group, LLC

Best Multiplayer Game Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Fruit Ninja by Halfbrick Studios
Second Place: Pocket Legends (3D MMO) by Spacetime Studios, LLC
Third Place: Words With Friends by Newtoy Inc.

iPad Division

Winner: Pocket Legends (3D MMO) by Spacetime Studios, LLC
Second Place: Carcassonne by TheCodingMonkeys
Third Place: SCRABBLE for iPad by Electronic Arts

Best Casual Game Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Angry Birds by Clickgamer.com
Second Place: Cut the Rope by Chillingo Ltd
Third Place: Slice It! by Com2uS Inc.

iPad Division

Winner: Super 7 by No Monkeys
Second Place: Angry Birds HD by Chillingo Ltd
Third Place: Slice It! by Com2uS Inc.

Best Action Game Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Trucks and Skulls by Appy Entertainment, Inc.
Second Place: Infinity Blade by Chair Entertainment Group, LLC
Third Place: Gun Bros by Glu

iPad Division

Winner: Infinity Blade by Chair Entertainment Group, LLC
Second Place: Trucks and Skulls HD by Appy Entertainment, Inc.
Third Place: Alien Space by Owens Rodriguez

Best Arcade Game Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Angry Birds by Clickgamer.com
Second Place: Cut the Rope by Chillingo Ltd
Third Place: Trucks and Skulls by Appy Entertainment, Inc.

iPad Division

Winner: Angry Birds HD by Chillingo Ltd
Second Place: Trucks and Skulls HD by Appy Entertainment, Inc.
Third Place: Fruit Ninja HD by Halfbrick Studios

Best Family Game Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Angry Birds by Clickgamer.com
Second Place: Carcassonne by TheCodingMonkeys
Third Place: Mandala Memory by The DuKode Studio

iPad Division

Winner: Carcassonne by TheCodingMonkeys
Second Place: Doodle Rain HD by RMF Games
Third Place: MONOPOLY for iPad by Electronic Arts

Best MMO Game Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Pocket Legends (3D MMO) by Spacetime Studios, LLC
Second Place: GraalOnline Classic by EUROCENTER
Third Place: My Kingdom by Chillingo Ltd

iPad Division

Winner: Pocket Legends (3D MMO) by Spacetime Studios, LLC
Second Place: Dungeon Defenders: First Wave by Trendy Entertainment
Third Place: GraalOnline Classic by EUROCENTER

Best Retro Game Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Commodore 64 by Manomio LLC
Second Place: ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection by Elite Systems Ltd
Third Place: Jenga by NaturalMotion

iPad Division

Winner: Sword Of Fargoal Legends by Chillingo Ltd
Second Place: Edge by Mobigame
Third Place: Pinball HD by OOO Gameprom

Best Puzzle Game Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Cut the Rope by Chillingo Ltd
Second Place: Edge by Mobigame
Third Place: Trainyard by Matt Rix

iPad Division

Winner: Edge by Mobigame
Second Place: Creatures & Castles by hiive
Third Place: Mahjong Artifacts: Chapter 2 HD by G5 Entertainment

Best Racing Game Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Real Racing 2 by Firemint Pty Ltd
Second Place: Drag Racer: Pro Tuner by XMG Studio Inc.
Third Place: Reckless Racing by Electronic Arts

iPad Division

Winner: Need for Speedâ„¢ Hot Pursuit for iPad by Electronic Arts
Second Place: Real Racing HD by Firemint Pty Ltd
Third Place: Need for Speed Shift for iPad by Electronic Arts

Best Strategy Game Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Plants vs. Zombies by PopCap Games, Inc.
Second Place: Sentinel 3: Homeworld by Origin8
Third Place: Carcassonne by TheCodingMonkeys

iPad Division

Winner: Sentinel 3: Homeworld by Origin8
Second Place: Plants vs. Zombies HD by PopCap Games, Inc.
Third Place: Shanghai Mahjong by MobileAge

Best Word Game Category

iPhone Division

Winner: Words With Friends by Newtoy Inc.
Second Place: Word Solitaire: Aurora by Candywriter
Third Place: SCRABBLE by Electronic Arts

iPad Division

Winner: Word Solitaire HD by Candywriter
Second Place: SCRABBLE for iPad by Electronic Arts
Third Place: Charadium by On5

Nominations for the 2010 Best App Ever awards, the People’s Choice of mobile apps, are well under way. We’re expecting a record number of nominations this year having already received 21,000 nominations. Nominations are open through the end of the day, 12/31. We’ll open up the final voting a few days after the new year. Voting will stay open until January 25th and we will announce the winners of the Best App Ever awards during the 2010 Macworld Expo.

2010 saw the release of the iPad and a whole new class of apps. And this year we’ve included the iPad apps in the Best App Ever awards with duplicate awards in all categories. Below you will find the current top 5 nominees in each category and division ordered alphabetically.

Most Innovative App

Best Visual Design

Best Use of iOS Hardware

Best Navigation App

Continue reading Announcing the Top Nominees of the 2010 Best App Ever Awards »

The nominations phase of the 2009 Best App Ever Awards has wrapped up and we are very happy to announce the final nominees.

The nomination process lasted just under a month and saw 26,899 nominations for 3,839 different apps submitted to the site for the 56 different award categories. In addition to the public nominations, a committee of industry people and iPhone developers was gathered to help nominate apps. Five nominees from the public and five nominees from the committee were combined to come up with the nominees for each category.

In addition, the 10 apps that had the most nominations are competing for the award of Best App Ever.

Here are the 2009 Nominees!

Best App Ever – The overall best app of the year. Nominees are the 10 apps that received the most nominations overall

Voting page for Best App Ever: http://bestappever.com/v/bapp

- 2Do: A Stunning To Do List with Pus… from Guided Ways Technologies Ltd
- Eliminate Pro from ngmoco, Inc.
- Flight Control from Firemint
- HOMERUN BATTLE 3D from Com2uS Corp.
- Labyrinth 2 from Illusion Labs
- MiniSquadron from MrFungFung
- Pocket God from Bolt Creative
- Real Racing from Firemint
- Tweetie 2 from atebits
- iBlast Moki from Godzilab

Most Innovative App – The most innovative app on the iPhone OS platform

Voting page for Most Innovative App: http://bestappever.com/v/iapp

- 2Do: A Stunning To Do List with Pus… from Guided Ways Technologies Ltd
- Dragon Dictation from Nuance Communications
- Email ‘n Walk **As seen on the BBC*… from Phase2 Media
- I Am T-Pain from
- Moodagent – Automatic Playlist DJ… from Syntonetic
- Pocket God from Bolt Creative
- Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite from Quickoffice, Inc.
- RedLaser from Occipital
- Storyboard Composer from Cinemek Inc.
- Tweetie 2 from atebits

Most Useful App – The app you just can’t live without

Voting page for Most Useful App: http://bestappever.com/v/uapp

- Analytics App from AnalyticsApp.com
- Document Scanner from Zirak s.r.l.
- Ego from Garrett Murray
- Instapaper Pro from Marco Arment
- MoneyBook – finance with flair from noidentity
- PDF Reader Pro Edition from iTech Development Systems
- RSS Player Podcast Client from Alex Sokirynsky
- Todo from Appigo
- iStat – Sys Monitoring, Battery from Bjango
- iXpenseIt from FYI Mobileware, Inc.

Read on for the full list of nominees in all 56 categories.

Continue reading Announcing the Nominees for the 2009 Best App Ever Awards »

BestAppEver
We did it last year, and we’re doing it again… but bigger. 148apps, along with a long list of writers of other publications, have started the nomination process for BestAppEver 2009. The goal of the awards are to single out the best of the App Store, not the most popular. With the App Store as large as it is, there are so many apps that slip through the cracks, so hopefully we’ll catch all the great apps that you (and I) haven’t played yet. Be sure to head over to bestappever.com to nominate the apps that you think should win.

Big Sequels
Monkey Ball 2, Inotia 2, Labyrinth 2, Dragon’s Lair (Space Ace sequel at heart)… I think I’d like to call December the month of the sequel. Being the holiday season and all, it seems that many of the bigger devs are banking in on peoples willingness to buy things, and what better way than to work off of a proven template. Hopefully before the end of the month we’ll see Real Racing 2: Hybrids, Doom 2, Fieldrunners 2, Flight Control 2: Air Force, and the inevitable I Am T-Pain 2: T-Wayne. Life would certainly be good.

Ongoing Sales
If you haven’t noticed, we’ve been keeping track of some of the great holiday sales going on right now in the app world. We have a daily article that Bonnie aptly calls, “Daily Double”, because it tracks the daily sale from the Appvent Calendar and EA’s 12 Days of Christmas. EA’s fare has primarily been apps from over the summer, while the Appvent Calendar is all over the board with some quality apps that most people have never heard of. Be sure to check daily for the sales… you won’t want to miss them.

Out Of Left Field
Out of nowhere last week came geoSpark, a game created by the brilliant minds at Critical Thought (geoDefense Swarm) and Imangi (Harbor Master). While the game hasn’t quite grabbed me in the same way that either geoDefense Swarm of Harbor Master did alone, I keep coming back for more. I liken geoSpark to the McRib. It’s not something that you think you really want at that moment, but you know deep down that it will be more satisfying than anything else on the menu. I have a feeling that by Christmas I’ll be having nightmares of stars and swirls running into each other, and possibly of being afraid to leave my finger on the home screen for too long for fear that my app icons will gravitate towards one another. Go ahead and buy this one now… you won’t regret it.

$1.99

geoSpark - WARNING: Highly Addictive!

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2009-12-04 :: Category: Games

More Sales
While 148apps is certainly not a food news source, I feel that it is important to inform you all of the greatest food sale ever. I mean, what respectable Apper doesn’t consume inordinate amounts of fast food every week? Whataburger, the home of the soon to be extinct A1 Thick’n Hearty Burger, has started their own 12 days of Christmas. Every other day until Christmas, Whataburger is sending out a coupon to those who have signed up (sign up here) for a free item of their choosing.

“We are thankful for our loyal customers and understand how hard they are working this year to make ends meet,” Preston Atkinson, Whataburger Restaurants, LP President and COO, said. “This is our way of helping them make their money stretch a little further this holiday season.”

Merry Christmas Whataburger!

This Weeks Sign of the Apocolypse
The App Store, home of all the apps that we love so very much, has this list of top selling apps that is totally out of Apple’s hands. Usually the list is populated with apps that they advertise on their home page, but sometimes, for some reason, bad apps slip in. I guess this is the ultimate sign that the people buy what they truly want, unfortunately, in this case, the people truly wanted Pocket Girlfriend during the first week of December. Seriously guys… this is sad. It’s so sad that I’m refusing to put a link to the app.

Note To Will Raskin
“Sunday’s national game on Fox, mainly Cowboys-Giants, earned its highest preliminary rating on the network in three years.” says SI. There’s a bright side to everything right?