This is the coolest iPhone app I have  read about so far. It includes augmented reality, GPS store locator, and uses the iPhone camera. Imagine this, you are in the mood for pizza so you grab your iPhone, open up the Pizza Hut application, choose your toppings, and then move your phone around in the air to show all the Pizza Hut stores in the area in their actual location as well as distance to the store. Does that sound cool or what? See the demonstration of the app by clicking the video below.

If you hold the phone flat, it will bring up a map with all the surrounding Pizza Hut stores allowing you to get directions to the store. Insqribe is the Australian mobile platform company that helped put this together. They’re goal is to help brands deliver mobile phone applications using augmented reality and proximity-based functionality that are both kick-ass and measurable.

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Point north, south, east, or west and the Pizza Hut locations change. So far the app is only available in Australia and just works on the iPhone 3GS. When is this coming to the States?? If only Whataburger (a really good Texas hamburger chain) or Shipleys Doughnuts (the best doughnuts in Texas) could make one similar.

If you are aware of an app that is better, feel free to comment or share your experience with our Mobile Marketers Community at LinkedIn. Fine all the latest mobile marketing and mobile application developer jobs at FoneGigs.com.

Thanks!

Eric Melchor, founder FoneGigs

@FoneGigs

Online bookmaker Blue Square is now offering sports betting services optimised for Apple’s device

The Blue Square iPhone web app, which is available from today, offers live prices that refresh automatically within the page.

In addition, users watching live events covered by the company’s ‘Betting-in-Running’ service will have the updated information instantly.

The web app, which was developed by Bluesqaure’s mobile partner mkodo, features a pop-up log-in and a pop-up single bet slip.

read full story here.

There may be trouble ahead for iPhone apps (and mobile ad networks) looking to make use of location-based advertising.

In an ‘App Store Tip’ posted on its iPhone Developer website, Apple appears to have nixed the idea.

“If you build your application with features based on a user’s location, make sure these features provide beneficial information,” says the tip.

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“If your app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user’s location, your app will be returned to you by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store.”

read full story here.

Tivit Takes Mobile TV To The Next Level

The Consumer Electronics Show has the attention of many mobile marketers this week, particular those eager to discover new and more trendy ways to plug, push, and promote products and services in the mobile sphere. One development that has some folks talking is the Tivit, which essentially serves as an external TV tuner for the iPhone, third-gen iPod Touch, BlackBerry devices with Wi-Fi connectivity, and Motorola Android phones

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Advertisers are looking at the new opportunities born of the demographics that could take hold following the Tivit’s goal to take Mobile DTV to the next level by facilitating live television feeds to smart phones without the need for a paid subscription plan.

read full artcile here.

iPhone Ownership Breakdown By Country

Apple is on track to sell more than 40 million iPhones and iPod touches this year worldwide. There are already 78 million iPhone and iPod touches out in the world today, but where are all these devices being used and purchased?

Google’s AdMob did some research into that question and found out that the US still has a strong lead in iPhone usage, with 50% of the world’s iPhones and iTouches being used in the US. The next four biggest markets were U.K., France, Canada and Germany. In total, 23 countries had more than 100,000 unique Apple visitors.

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The US iPhone usage dominance may not last. Of all the countries where iPhones and iPod touches are used, the US had the slowest growth rate. The fasted growing countries between January 2009 and November 2009 were Japan, France, Australia and China (countries that love the iPhone). AdMob reports that Japan’s iPhone and iPod touch user growth has grown at more than 330% in less than a year.

read full article here.

Obopay now has its own iPhone app

Mobile payment company Obopay now has an iPhone client. The dedicated application features include:

• Send money to anyone with a US phone number
• Send money to your kids or anyone 13 years of age or older and track how they spend the money all from your iPhone
• View full transaction history

• Receive money free of charge regardless of how many people send you money or the amount you receive
• Setup your account to automatically deposit the funds that you receive into your own bank account without having to manually intervene
• Request money from contacts
• Receive a push notification when you get a request for money
• Check the status of a request anytime, from anywhere

Sending money costs as little as $0.25 per transaction, the application itself is free (AppStore link), so I don’t see a reason why not to try it out.

Red Foundry lets anyone make an iPhone app in browser

A new Seattle area startup Red Foundry has a cool service, allowing folks without tech background to make iPhone apps in minutes, using nothing but their web browser. The system/platform enables future app owners to choose from existing templates and pick only the components they require. And by “components” they mean such things as music and video playback, blog feeds, photos, web pages, maps, Facebook and Twitter integration, and so on. Then, once you made the application, Red Foundry also takes care of hosting, at least of those components that are required for your app to work and be up to date.

The best part is that you can try Red Foundry for free. The company makes money only when you submit your app to Apple (NSDQ: AAPL). After that, you only pay the hosting service, which is not that much. Cool idea – I like it!

Cisco Unveils New iPhone Security App

With the amount of potentially dangerous spam and other bogus mobile content threatening our digital way of life, it sure helps to have an extra pair to eyes to watch out for the dangers that lurk around the corner.

Fortunately, Cisco has acted on this need and introduced a new (and free) iPhone app chronicling the latest security threats to computers and mobile devices by offering alerts from Cisco’s enormous internet traffic and security experts (better than 500 in all) monitoring the cyber dangers that loom large, occasionally unbeknown to us.

“SIO To Go” enables you to monitor a host of security news feeds, the most important of which is Cisco’s Risk Report. Tossed into the mix are podcasts, Twitter feeds, and an array of blogs. From the looks of it, Cisco’s app does, indeed, serve up a lot of “unique information” collected from Cisco’s monitoring of more than 60% of the world’s e-mail.

All in, the cross-referencing of data from multiple sources enables Cisco’s app to present a “threat correlation” based on known and identified Internet attacks via spam or other nefarious mechanisms. The ability to enter an IP address or domain name to check the site’s e-mail or web reputation score is a killer feature arguably practical for anyone accessing the internet.

Among the other simple, but much appreciated functions are the ability to review volume statistics, obtain data from Whois, and review terse summaries of a website’s reputation. A valuable tool for IT professionals, mobile marketers, and virtually everyone in between, “SIO to Go” is available for download beginning today.

Google’s new mobile marketing child, AdMob, announced today the launch of a new video ad unit with real-time interactivity for the iPhone. The company claims its ad unit will be the first to bring “true interactivity to mobile video advertising,” using in-player actions that allow consumers to browse Web sites, view additional videos and more all while the video is playing.

AdMob already has a slew of iPhone ad units including “Multi-Panel Banner,” “Scrolling Canvas,” and search. Their latest addition, real-time video, will start running ads this week in select applications across AdMob’s iPhone ad network that reached more than 20 million unique iPhones and iPod touch devices worldwide in 2009.

The “new interactive Video Ad Unit brings together consumers’ love of watching videos on their mobile device with advertisers’ goal of providing an interactive, social experience for consumers,” said Omar Hamoui, Founder and CEO of AdMob, in a statement.

Of course, AdMob isn’t alone in trying to engage consumers through mobile video advertising. Companies like MobiTV, Transpera, MyWaves, Nexage and others are exploring mobile video ads, however AdMob’s added real-time interactivity in iPhone video will shake things up a bit, and might make existing options of pre-roll mobile ads and branded video channels seem less appealing for certain brand advertisers.