There are plenty of things to look forward to if you’re an Apple iPhone 4 user in 2011. The number of games and apps launched for the device is likely to be just as high as it was last year as their popularity continues to soar.

It was recently announced that the 10 billionth app had been purchased through the App Store and that the person who helped the outlet achieve this landmark figure had been rewarded with a ,000 iTunes gift card. So with 160 million PAYG and Pay Monthly Apple device users now enjoying the benefits of everything from satellite navigation software to cookery guides – what apps came out at the top of the charts for 2010?

Well, the official top 10 of the year in terms of paid downloads had Angry Birds at number one, followed by Doodle Jump, Skee-Ball, Bejeweled 2 + Blitz, Fruit Ninja, Cut the Rope, All in One Gamebox, The Moron Test, Plants vs. Zombies and Pocket God. But when it came to free apps, the winner was Facebook, followed by Angry Birds Lite, Words With Friends Free, Skype, Tap Tap Revenge 3, The Weather Channel, Paper Toss, Bing, Rock Band Free and Talking Tom Cat.

However, experts across the world were also recommending their own best iPhone applications of the last 12 months as the year came to an end and, in many cases, there were titles being highlighted that didn’t appear on the official most popular lists. In an article for TechCrunch, for example, Alex Ahlund placed Instagram at the top of his list, for its ability to make the most of the handset’s camera technology. The app allows the user to take snaps and apply a range of visual effects to it and then post it to social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, and Foursquare. “Instagram stands apart because of how easy it is to get a unique and professional result,” he explained.

Elsewhere, a piece for blog on cherry noted Yelp as one of the most helpful pieces of software of 2010 for Apple iPhone users. This option lets you find and review restaurants, bars and other businesses as well as view other comments that have been added by others. Maps, contact details, street views and other augmented reality technology makes this something of an all-rounder that the site said could come in very handy.

Technology blog Cnet got a number of its editors to post their list online before getting its readers to vote. The result was a top 100 iPhone apps and a final 10 that saw mentions for IMDB, Evernote, Facebook, Dictionary.com, Alien Blue, Photoshop, Flight Control, Pandora and oo Tunes. However, the overall prize went to that iPhone users favourite – Angry Birds.

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