Part of what makes the new iPhone 4 a standout product in the crowd of smartphones is Apple’s incomparable App Store. As of last week, the App Store offers at least 225 000 third party applications, with over 5 billion downloads since its opening in July 2008.  In comparison, the App Store’s main competitor Android Market offers just 30 000 apps. Though Android is rapidly gaining market share, the sheer variety and quality of apps in the App Store keeps Apple ahead of the game.

Here are two handy apps launching with the new iPhone that are sure to be a draw for users looking for a new smartphone.

iMovie

iMovie is Apple’s video editing software and comes equipped with all those easy-use features that have become a trademark of Apple. The iMovie for iPhone app adds more sophisticated editing options. This, coupled with the upgraded camera on the iPhone 4 that allows HD video shooting, allows you to make polished home videos using your mobile phone.

The iMovie app is flexible enough to suit the casual user who wants to flip through her clips, or an editing despot who wants every edit to be just right. Editing is done in a timeline view and it’s easy to drop transitions, titles, clips and photos anywhere in your video’s timeline, complete with a soundtrack from your phone’s iTunes. Movies can then be exported at 360p, 540p, or 720p.

FaceTime

The iPhone 4 makes one- tap video conference calling easy with its FaceTime app. Like the iMovie app, this complements the new iPhone’s upgraded camera features, using the added front-facing camera. Using WiFi rather than 3G, users can expect excellent quality without using up minutes or data on their mobile phone plan. Though video chats via instant messaging or Skype have been around for some time, they’ve generally been restricted to stationary PC webcams. With Apple’s FaceTime however, it looks like video calling could go mainstream.

These are two apps that are so well built that they could easily become as definitive to the iPhone 4 as its new processing chip and fine display. For more niches users, keep any eye out for developments of Game Center, a programme like Xbox Live for iPhone games, or iBook, a strong challenge to Kindle and the publishing industry.

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