Apple is getting ready for one of its biggest events this year: the launch of the 3G iPhone and its already more than famous AppStore.

I agree that maybe the big star of this event is the phone itself, but the AppStore is a concept that could make the difference.
Steve Jobs has announced the AppStore back in March and it is basically new application that lets users browse, search, purchase and wirelessly download third party applications directly onto their iPhone or iPod Touch.

Practically, every developer can submit their applications to the AppStore; Apple would retain 30 percent of all sales revenues.
Users can download free applications at no charge to either the user or developer, or purchase priced applications with just one click. Enterprise customers will be able to create a secure, private page on the AppStore accessible only by their employees. Apple will cover all credit card, web hosting, infrastructure and DRM costs associated with offering applications on the App Store.

Third party iPhone and iPod touch applications must be approved by Apple and will be available exclusively through the App Store.
Steve Jobs said during an interview that around 500 applications will be available on Friday and there are some pretty big companies that are ready to offer software designed especially for iPhone. Companies like Facebook, Bloomberg, AOL, eBay or Sega have already lined up to the AppStore.

Steve Jobs said that 25 percent of those 500 applications will be available for free for the iPhone customers. But a good news is that also 90 percent of the rest of the applications will be priced at under $10.

The AppStore is a big bet for Apple. The number and quality of developed applications will certainly influence the way the iPhone is perceived from now on. Some of them will only try to exploit certain features, others will attempt to give the Apple gadget new uses while others still will extend the range of existing features. It will be interesting to see if there will be one killer application that redefines the iPhone.
Developers such as AOL, Electronic Arts, Epocrates, salesforce.com and Sega have already demonstrated applications using the iPhone SDK.

Of course there will be also a lot of games. Already EA presented a version of Spore, the upcoming game from Will Wright, the mastermind behind games like The Sims and SimCity. SEGA released a version of Super Monkey Ball, a game that first appeared on Nintendo's GameCube console. And this brings another interesting question. Will iPhone be the next big thing in mobile gaming?

Apple’s device has all the premises to be a revolutionary gaming platform and it seems like the imagination of the gaming developers could lead to a whole new generation of games that will use the capabilities of iPhone. Anyhow, with the AppStore, the future sounds good for iPhone.