We know iPhone developers are working hard o applications for the soon to be released Apple iPhone 3G, however we were somewhat surprised to find out the approximately 4,000 applications are lined up ready to pounce on the iPhone 3G just after it comes out on 11th July.

This huge wave of native apps, native being designed to run directly on the iPhone as opposed to being downloaded from the internet, the first of this wave of applications will become available around mid-July just after the iPhone 3G comes out. Native applications take full advantage of the new iPhone’s improved computational power, including its navigational features and ability to run on a more advanced wireless network.

Erica Sadun of the Unofficial Apple Weblog says: “Both Web-based and native applications have a place. Yet, native applications access location, and do a lot of things using the onboard sensors.”

Appealing as the Apple iPhone may be to everyone, it was designed for business users as well, and software developers are designing business based applications too. Salesforce.com was part of the iPhone’s original SDK and its VP, Chuck Dietrich says: “The iPhone and its applications will have huge ramifications for how people conduct business. The ability to run sophisticated applications on a handheld will change how people conduct life and business.”

Even with the heavy development activity around the iPhone, Apple still faces plenty of competition in the mobile phone business. Nokia purchased the Symbian mobile operating system on June 24, which runs 56.3 percent of the world’s smartphones. What’s more is Nokia will give away Symbian, and open the code, hoping developers will make applications for Symbian. While Google’s Android operating system will be filled with its own cocktail of smartphone applications to add further competition with the Apple iPhone 3G.

Source — businessweek