A few reasons why I dislike the iTunes AppStore.

First off, the third party Installer app is faster than the AppStore and uses less resources! There also doesn't seem to be much in the Apple store, neither in apps nor substance. It would really be a nice feature to have the AppStore remember my password so I don't have to type it in all the time.

I do understand the Installer has been around longer, but who wants a shit load of Twitter and Brightkite clones and another PacMan game that should be in the Public Domain by now? I really believe Apple did a dis-service to the Open source developers, and possibly to themselves, by implementing this pay to play attitude.

I know Apple is in it for the money, but I really think they should allow the Installer app to be in the AppStore! Scared of a little competition? Yes, I believe they are... NemusSync allows bi-directional Google calender syncing and we can guess why that isn't in the store or may never be - Mobile Me. I don't know about you, but Mobile Me looks so Microsoft to ME.

I really miss the video and camera applications, like Snapture. I was really expecting to see a some cool video capture and camera enhancement apps in the AppStore. I honestly used these apps more than anything else. I also miss Summerboard! The iPhone looks alright, but I'd much rather theme it myself. I have already needed to do a screenshot, luckily you can hold down the home button then hit the power button to capture the screen now (wasn't aware of that when I originally wrote this). I won't even mention some of the greatest free games that are not in the AppStore. The only two games I would consider buying are Pool and Chess, which were once free and installable on a Jail-broke phone. I was pretty amazed there wasn't something like iCrossword, that just seems like a money maker to me. make the app free and charge monthly for crosswords, hmm...

Now I can't just bitch about the AppStore without mentioning the apps I am using, because that would be unfair to some great developers. Here are a few I find really useful and really well done. These are all free as well:

WeatherBug    - Best weather app everywhere, the iPhone is no exception.
Pandora Radio - Build your own radio stations based on your preferences and jam out on the go.
AOL Radio     - Needs more cities and stations, but damned good application with some talk radio, sports, as well as internet radio stations. Pretty good selections.
Stanza        - Book reader, will not be free forever. Worth the purchase since you can download free public domain works as well as upload your own ebooks.,
YPmobile      - Yellowpages. Finds things around you, like events, businesses, parks. Nice!
BoxOffice     - Find movie theaters, book tickets, etc.
Twittelator   - Pretty good twitter client.
Aurora Feint  - Interesting game.
Moonlite Mahjong - A classic that really can't easily be done well on a small screen, but this is pretty good.

Some others that I haven't really used, but like.

Pocket Express, MySpace client, and Lastminute language tool.