Apple has begun airing another in their long line of “App for That” iPhone ads, this time with “Avid”, targeting sports fans. The ad shows off:

• Golfshot GPS [$29.99 - iTunes link]
• MLB at Bat 2009 [$9.99 - iTunes link]
• TouchSports Tennis 2009 [$0.99 - iTunes link]

Apple typically releases these spots in batches, so we’ll keep our eyes peeled for more, and if you see any, let us know.

(Mac fans can also check out the new Get a Mac ads, one of which just might “tick” people off — haha!)

[Video via Ben.at]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

New iPhone Ad Has Apps for That Avid Sports Fan with Golfshot GPS, MLB at Bat, TouchSports Tennis

Apple.com has posted up the winners of the WWDC 2009 Apple Design Awards (APA), and specifically for our interests, the iPhone winners. Like last year, a lot of our favorites got the nod. Here they are, with iTunes links where available:

iPhone Developer Showcase:

• MLB.com At Bat 2009 v1.0.1 / MLB.com
  
• Postage v1.0 / Rogue Sheep
• Topple 2 v1.1 / ngmoco:)
  
• Tweetie v1.3.1 / atebits LLC

Best iPhone Student App

• Wooden Labyrinth 3D v1.2.1 / Elias Pietil

Best iPhone OS 3.0 Beta App

• AccuTerra v1.0.0 Beta / AccuTerra

Congrats to everyone and thanks for the great apps!

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Apple Design Award Winning iPhone Apps: Tweetie, Topple, MLB at Bat, Wooden Labyrinth, Accuterra

(MLB At Bat 2009 Forum Review by cjvitek For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum Review Index!)

Okay, I admit it, I am a die hard baseball fan. One of the first apps I bought last year was MLB At Bat, and when I heard it was coming out again, after a brief period of annoyance, I decided to purchase it again.

On a side note, I expect to see many more subscription based or “partial” purchase based apps with the new pricing methods in the app store. I don’t think it bodes well.

But anyway, I decided to get the app when I saw that this year it included the MLB Audio – radio broadcasts of the games. As a bonus, you get to choose the stream to listen to!

So how does it stack up?

I must say, very well.

When you start the app, you are presented with a screen showing the days games. The current score and inning are listed, and if you click on a game, you get a short highlight summary at the bottom of the screen (how many outs, who is pitching and batting, on base, etc). You can scroll through the various games. When a game is highlighted, you can click on “audio” and choose from either of the teams radio stream to listen to the game. Unfortunately, you can’t have it in the background (curse you iPhone) so you need to stay in the application in order to listen to the stream. If you click the blue arrow, you are taken to what I call the “game” menu.

The game menu is broken down into a variety of screens. The first one, gameday, shows you the current batter, pitch by pitch (with location) action of what is going on. You can also see the fielding situation (including dimensions for each stadium), the box score, the game summary, and of course video highlights (just like last year) by selecting the various tabs at the bottom. The video highlights are supposed to be better quality this year, but I always look at them when I am connected via wifi, so I have no problem with the quality. I wish they had more highlights to choose from (it seems that they are moslty focused on big hits). The video is not HD quality or like watching a movie, but it certainly is okay to watch for a ten-second highlight.

Back on the main screen, there is an additional button for “extras”. With Extras, you can look at additional MLB videos (like “A look at the ballparks of the last decade” and fantasy updates”). You can also look at the up to date standings, legal information, or be taken to the MLB.com website in safari. I wish they have other information like leaderboards, player stats, matchup information. It is all available at MLB.com, but I would think it would be easy to have it in the app itself (especially since if you leave the app, the audio stream is lost).

Out of curiosity, I tried watching the game-day play by play, watching a game on TV, and listening on the radio, just to see how it synced up. The radio had the longest lab, the TV was the fastest, but evne then it was only about one pitch behind.

Pros:

• Audio!
• Gameday effects are nice,
• lots of options for “in game” status

Cons:

• Lacking some basic statistical information,
• some video highlights seem to be sparse (for some teams)

Conclusion

All in all, for baseball fans on the road, this is almost a must-have app. The price ($9.99) is not cheap, but it is very reasonable compared to what they charge for Gameday audio online. I wish they have video highlights for every half inning or so, rather than just having (at times) one or two per game. I also wish they have more reference and statistical information. But this is a great app for following a team when you are on the road – just make sure you have your car charger! Most of the stuff I found lacking were things that don’t really detract from the app, but rather things that would put the app over the top.

TiPb Forum Review Rating

[MLB At Bat 2009 is available via the iTunes App Store]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

App Review: MLB At Bat 2009 for iPhone

Well, Baseball season is fast approaching and you all know what the means: Major League Baseball is taking full advantage and is releasing two new MLB At Bat apps.

The first is available right now in the iTunes store, MLB At Bat Lite. Good thing is, that app is completely free. It’s essentially the same app as last years paid app minus in-game video highlights.

The paid version of MLB At Bat 2009 will be available on April 3rd in the App Store with a price as yet-to-be determined. What this version offers in comparison to the lite version is actual in-game live audio and in-game video highlights (not to be confused with actual live video feeds). With the live in-game audio you will have some options. You have the choice to listen to the home or away teams’ own broadcasters, which is a really nice feature.

The big question here is the price for this app. MLB.com mobile has the same in-game audio feature currently and that alone costs $4.99 a month. So what does that mean, if anything, for this iPhone app? Are we looking at a subscription fee on top of the price of the app? If so, why not simply update the app we purchased last year for $5.00. Seems to us like MLB is double dipping here…

So all of you Baseball fans out there, what is your take on this?

[Via Macworld]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Quick App: MLB At Bat 2009 for iPhone

MLB At Bat just announced a price cut that puts the price at a very affordable $2.99 (from $5) to get an impressive app with a slick interface and great features. Good deal, right? How thoughtful of you MLB to cut the price just in time for playoffs so us fans can get a taste of the action. WRONG.

Why is it a bad deal? Because you have to buy MLB At Bat again next year! The current version of MLB At Bat will expire after the end of the season which is in approximately the end of this month. Maybe even sooner. So if it’s worth it to you to spend money on an app that will be useless in a few weeks time, by golly do it! But for the rest of us, Sportacular should work fine.

Does anyone else think charging users every year is a little ridiculous? Maybe I’m still in shock over the 6th inning of the NLCS and a little peeved about this whole baseball thing but I just don’t find it good practice on MLB’s part-they need to highlight this aspect a little better. But maybe after Game 2, I’ll celebrate in utter jubilation by buying an app that will soon be worthless?

The MLB is again bungling this whole technology thing–remember they switched DRM for their videos back in 07 and users lost ALL previously purchased videos. DRM sucks but having things wrongfully taken away from you blows even more.

Read

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

MLB At Bat Is On Sale! But Buyer Beware!