At the start of the 2009 season, another update introduced GameDay Audio Support, letting users tune into the radio broadcasts for any game featuring the hometown announcers of both teams. The recent iPhone OS 3.0 update brought even more changes--MLB.com At Bat now offers live streaming video for up to two games per day. The most notable app makers strive to find new ways to take advantage of the iPhone OS, and few have been more successful at it than MLB.com ($10; ).

There are those who will lament no longer having to listen to the strange intonations of the Moviefone guy, but by Flixster brings the cinema outing into the 21st century. Sure, you could go to Google or one of the numerous movie showtime Web sites, but Flixster one-ups those offerings by allowing you to quickly and easily find showtimes for movies in your area: no need to wrangle with ZIP codes, thanks to the iPhone's location services. Can't decide on a movie? Movies lets you skim through reviews from Rotten Tomatoes as well as comments by fellow users. You can also browse upcoming movies and DVD releases and Facebook users can connect with their accounts to keep track of their favorite movies. Movies is a great example of how a single application can collect information on a subject from disparate sources around the Internet and mold it together into a single, easy-to-use format (Free; ).

Some apps are must-haves, not because they're actually necessary for everyone but because they're such perfect examples of what an iPhone app can do and how it can do it. Take , an app that makes creating electronic postcards not only easy, but fun, thanks to an iPhone-optimized interface. You choose photos from your albums or take them with the phone's camera; use multi-touch gestures to resize and position images; swipe and tap to choose postcard designs, photo effects, and text styles; type messages using the onscreen keyboard; add recipients directly from your contacts; and send your postcards right from within the app. It feels like the sort of app Apple would make, and, best of all, it produces beautiful results ($1; ).