Lest you lose track of that one-of-a-kind Simpsons collectable you’ve been eyeballing, eBay’s iPhone app might just be worth your while.  Here’s eBay’s description of the new version of eBay for the iPhone:

eBay Mobile… Now eBay buyers and sellers have The World’s Online Marketplace at their fingertips, wherever they go. The new eBay application for the iPhone is specially designed to run natively on the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch. Using a streamlined interface that’s as elegant as it is practical, eBay members can search, bid, and check their activity on the go. Buyers can sneak in that last-minute bid on a hard-to-find item, sellers can check on their sales, and everyone can act on time-sensitive information on the spot without a computer. eBay is now open for business anytime, anywhere on the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch.

Tags: auction, commerce, ebay, iphone, simpsons

All kidding aside, the Kindle, Amazon’s electronic book reading device, has kindled a ton of excitement among bloggers lately.  So much, in fact, that one had to wonder if it would be on Amazon’s agenda to support the iPhone with their Kindle technology.  Of course, common sense prevailed and Amazon widely realized that, when you have an iPhone in your pocket, you probably aren’t going to be partial to carrying around a second device just for book-reading.  Anyway, the Kindle app is here–so check it out.

Tags: amazon, books, e-books, iphone, kindle, reading, software

The idea of an FM receiver in the iPhone has excited many a commentator over the last several years, because sometimes, you’ve got to set aside podcasts and iTunes and just listen to the radio.  The hyperlocal nature of terrestrial radio makes it a cultural staple, yet it’s conspicuously absent from the iPhone.  Apparently, that may be changing when iPhone 3.0 hits some time in the next 8 - 10 months.

And how about song-tagging, so you can purchase the currently-playing song from iTunes.  Some folks think High Definition (that is, digital) Radio is required to do this.  Actually, the text labels embedded in most FM broadcasts should be sufficient to drive links to iTunes Music Store…. if this was Apple’s style.

iHeartRadio and similar apps already pipe HD-quality data into the iPhone (over 3G)–and those don’t offer links to the iTunes store. If an FM chip is coming in iPhone 3.0, it will probably be used first and foremost for navigation-related features like traffic advisories and weather, and if we get radio out of the deal (like on some of the Nokie N-Series phones), then it will just be a happy little bonus.

Me, I’ll take photo messaging and a camcorder app, please.

Tags: camcorder, fm, gps, hd, hd radio, iphone, itunes, navigation, nokia, radio, software, video

Making international long distance calls on your iPhone just got a whole lot cheaper, courtesy of those clever cats over at Truphone. Interestingly, while this new iPhone app does use minute-stealing to connect calls at a cheaper rate to overseas destinations, it apparently does NOT steal minutes using VoIP or 3G on the iPhone itself. Instead, calls are routed to a local phone number operated by Truphone first, and once inside Truphone’s network, are routed to the international destination using Voice over IP.

Truphone users will be prompted, at the time they dial an international number, whether or not they’d like to use Truphone to handle the call. Very clever.

Tags: 3g, services, truphone, voip, wireless

SIP is the empowering technology behind Voice over IP, which catapulted Vonage to fame and made it possible to get residential phone service for $8 a month.  But VoIP’s most compelling advantages exist in the enterprise, where the iPhone has begun to make a splash.  Yet there’s no SIP on the iPhone, so the iPhone can’t be used with corporate telephone systems.

How about it, Apple?  Why block VoIP developers from creating products that will allow iPhones to be used on corporate VoIP networks?  SIP, or Session Initiation Protocol, allows the iPhone to be used with corporate phone systems like Cisco CallManager, Avaya, and so forth, increasing the appeal of iPhones to the enterprise.  Of course, we all know the real reason for the iPhone’s lack of SIP is political: AT&T will almost certainly lose revenue if WiFi SIP ever hits the mainstream.

We know the iPhone is capable of running SIP apps–TruPhone utilizes SIP to connect phone calls to their central office on behalf of their iPhone-toting customers.  And, with a few modifications, it would in theory be possible to point TruPhone’s software at your company’s phone system instead of TruPhone’s.   Yet that option isn’t available…  Could this mean that Apple’s playing hardball with Appstore developers who make VoIP programs?   I think it’s a pretty safe bet…

Tags: appstore, SIP, software, truphone, voip