Over the past year, we have seen a series of well-known cell phone makers taking a stab at releasing what the tech world refers to as “iPhone killers.”  Apple has been forgiving, refraining from commenting on the many failed iPhone killers that companies have tried to release in 2008.  Of course, with the massive iPhone sales, and the immense popularity the handset enjoys, it is not necessary for them to even mention its success and its rivals’ (if they can even be called that) repeated downfalls.  It is undoubtedly understood.  One would think that after so many failed attempts, cell phone companies would just hang their heads low as they go back to their high-tech, yet seemingly inadequate labs and give in to the iPhone’s widely recognized awesomeness.  Yet now, barely into 2009, we see another iPhone killer on the horizon, which, though it still awaits public and intensive scrutiny, looks quite nice.     

Remember when I said TwitterFon, the humble yet excellent Twitter client for the iPhone and iPod Touch, is being updated at least twice a month? Well the second update for this month has just been released and with it come the following improvements:

– Fixed an issue in which application doesn’t update user’s profile image icon
– Fixed broken UI when user has a long username
– Addressed send button state when user opens post view with unfinished text

Simple, clean, fast and regularly updated, TwitterFon is available for free HERE in the App Store.

At $.99 Doppler is a nice, simple RSS reader for iPhone and iPod Touch. It syncs in both directions with Google Reader and is fast. No, it isn’t the best looking RSS Reader, but it is faaaaast.
An update…
– adds support for rotation, e.g. landscape view
– offers even faster and more optimized synchronization
– updated the sync progress screen
– allows you to add and remove feeds from and to your online Google reader subscription list on your device.

Having just tried it with my Google Reader account I can say enough about its speed and ease of use.

A free DopplerLite offers the same functionally but is limited to maximum 5 feeds and is ad supported.

Back in September I bought a copy of the banned Podcaster. I loved the app that allowed OTA downloads of a variety of podcasts.

I loved it, but Apple didn’t.

Seemed the app was in conflict with Apple’s "Apps may not duplicate core functionality" policy.

Well low and behold Podcaster is back as RSSPlayer. And it is the same great app… sort of.

They’re been quite a few changes here on the site over the last few months.

The Developer’s Corner is up and we are excited to see it become a venue for developers to share their apps, insights and updates with us.

An internal site messaging system is up and working — more on that later.

Perhaps the biggest change, however, is the increased number of voices here on the site. In addition to Dimitri, Brad, Jim, Jennifer and me, we have had the good fortune to be joined by a number of new individuals over the last weeks and I just wanted to take a (belated) few minutes to allow each to briefly introduce themselves.

I love the fact that as the site continues to grow so too do the variety of perspectives offered, not just in the comments, but through the reviews themselves. We have a great group of writers here on WOiP. The range of experience, age, location etc is tremendous but we are all more than a bit enthusiastic about our OSx iPhone-running devices. I’m pleased to invite them to share a bit.

Thanks to all of our writers– and especially you, our readers, for making the site what it is.

Bios after the break…

The update for Truphone is already available. Twitter, albeit limited in functionality works. Better yet, Googletalk is now available for IM AND voice!Here are some initial attempts to call Doug Goldring of JustAnotherMobileMonday. iPhone VoiceOverIP is REALLY here!

I’m often asked why it is that we don’t have an iPhone optimized site here on What’s On iPhone. It is a good question. We are, after all, a site focussed on everything "OSx iPhone" and one would think we would optimize the content for viewing on our favorite devices. So why is it that we don’t offer one? Three reasons….

A thanks to our reader- ozron- who really gets what we’re trying to do with the Dev’s Corner and Promo Codes.

Ozron explained it quite well when he wrote in a comment-

With the massive number of apps now on the Apple store, it must be getting more difficult for the dev’s the get the word out on their apps, and I’m sure there are plenty of great apps which don’t make it to the top 100 sales list which we never find out about. This is a great initiative to promote some great apps and developers.

That’s exactly it! The more developers take advantage of the Dev’s Corner, and the more you, our readers visit it, comment on apps, enter to win promo codes and then offer feedback here and on iTunes, the more we all help promote the apps that are worth promoting.

And thanks also to all the devs for their hardwork, creativity and support here on WOiP!

Within the next 24 hours Truphone will be updated to include awesome new functionality.

It will soon be possible to have two-way IM conversations with MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk users. Moreover, you’ll be able to make and receive calls using Google Talk. And it gets better still- with Twitter integration. That means one app for calls, IM and Twittering. NICE!!!

And that’s not all…