I bought my iPhone the first day it was available, stood in line, waited for the Apple Store employees to let us through the doors and plunk down (at the time) $599. When the iPhone 3G was released, I decided I’d stick with my original. It still works great, it hasn’t taken too many bumps, plus I prefer the silver backing over the black or white choices of the 3G.

Aside from the sexy UI and design of the phone, the thing that makes the iPhone a “must-have” was the introduction of the AppStore. Now, I’m not one to download hundreds of apps (I only have 3 pages). However, from what I’ve tested out here are some of my favorites:

Remote (free) My very first iPhone app, and still one of my favorites. Sitting back on the couch and being able to control my Apple TV with my iPhone is just too cool. You can also sync this app and control iTunes.

Shazam (free) A lot has been written about Shazam, and rightfully so. If for some odd reason you haven’t heard of it, Shazam is an app that “listens” to a song playing, fetches the information from a database and reports back the artist, song, and album title.  All this for free!

Last.FM (free) I love Last.FM on my Mac and now I can love Last.FM on my Phone. I’ve discovered a ton of new music. Access to over 5 million songs. Highly recommended.

Joost (free) With Joost and a WiFi connection you can stream over 46,000 videos right on your phone. Imagine in 1998 someone said you’d be able to do this in 10 years.

Urban Spoon (free) Hungry? Want to try something new? Just crank up the Urban Sppon app, give it a shake, and get asll kinds of foodilicious suggestions.

WiFinder (free) Quickly find open and non-redirected wireless networks. With this app, I’m usually able to find networks not listed under the usual iPhone Wi-Fi settings.

iLCARS ($0.99) If you’re a Trek nerd, this is a must-have. At just 99 cents it’s a steal, even for an app that doesn’t really “do” all that much. Who cares, you can still pretend you’re searching for subatomic particles and biological life forms!

Stanza (free) Stanza is a book reader for the iPhone. With a built-in library it allows you to download hundreds of free books from Project Gutenberg.