Apple selects the best iPhone apps for 2009

(Apple)

In December, Apple rewound App Store purchases all the way back to the beginning of 2009 to compile a selection of the best applications for the year.

In the US App store, the best games of 2009 included Real Racing, Sally's Spa, Blades of Fury and DOOM Classic while ReelDirector, Jamie Oliver's 20 Minute Meals and SketchBook Mobile were among Apple's US list of Best Applications for 2009.

Applications were split into four different categories. Rather than relying on the sometimes flawed user submitted ratings, the Best Apps and Best Games lists appear to have been selected by Apple staff. Applications in the "best of" list have the ability to appeal to the mass market and have been designed with the user in mind.

The other two categories, Best Selling Games and Best Selling Applications, include applications that have seen the highest rates of purchase in 2009.

The Sims 3 and The Oregon Trail were at the top of the Best Selling games list, and MobileNavigator North America and MLB.com At Bat were Best Selling Apps in 2009.

Electronic Arts proved to be the most popular games publisher in 2009 with four out of the top ten selling games distributed by the company.

Applications in the lifestyle, photography and navigation categories were also sought after in 2009.

The 2009 Rewind Apple iTunes' Apps list:
Name (developer) Category

Best Games of 2009:
Spider: the Secret of Bryce Manor (Tiger Style)
Real Racing (Firemint)
ZENONIA (GAMEVIL Inc.)
Ravensword: The Fallen King (Chillingo Ltd)
Earth Vs Moon Ep.2-Enter the Perk Shop (Low Five Games)
Sally's Spa (Games Cafe Inc.)
Ragdoll Blaster - A Physics Puzzler (Backflip Studios)
Canabalt (Semi Secret Software)
Blades of Fury (Gameloft)
DOOM Classic (id Software)

Best Apps of 2009:
ReelDirector (Nexvio Inc.) Photography
Magellan RoadMate 2010 North America (Magellan) Navigation
Jamie Oliver's 20 Minute Meals (Zolmo) Lifestyle
I Am T-Pain (Smule) Music
CBS Sports: Live College Games (CBS Interactive) Sports
SketchBook Mobile (Autodesk Inc.) Entertainment
Star Walk - 5 stars astronomy guide (Vito Technology Inc.) Education
Convertbot (Tapbots) Utilities
Leaf Trombone: World Stage (Smule) Music
Pano (Debacle Software) Photography

Top Selling Games for 2009:
The Sims 3 (Electronic Arts)
The Oregon Trail (Gameloft)
Need For Speed Undercover (Electronic Arts)
MADDEN NFL 10 by EA SPORTS (Electronic Arts)
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR by EA SPORTS (Electronic Arts)
Assassin's Creed - Altair's Chronicles (Gameloft)
Flight Control (Firemint)
Cooking Mama (TAITO Corporation)
Civilization Revolution (2K Games)
Wheel of Fortune (Sony Pictures Television)

Top Selling Apps of 2009:
MobileNavigator North America (NAVIGON AG) Navigation
MLB.com At Bat (MLB.com) Sports
Textfree Unlimited - Send Text Messages SMS Free! (Pinger, Inc.) Lifestyle
TomTom US & Canada (TomTom International BV) Navigation
Golfshot: Golf GPS (Shotzoom Software) Sports
SlingPlayer Mobile (Sling Media) Entertainment
ColorSplash (Pocket Pixels Inc.) Photography
Pocket God (Bolt Creative) Entertainment
Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite (Quickoffice, Inc.) Business
The Moron Test (DistinctDev) Entertainment