Cupertino, Calif. - Apple's (NASD: AAPL) long-awaited iPhone 2.0 software became available on Thursday when the company released the latest version of its iTunes software (7.7), in a surprise that allowed iPhone owners to start browsing the over 550 applications available in the new App Store a day early, Macrumors reported. Among the applications that are now available for current-generation iPhone owners are lots of games, a voice recorder, e-books, price comparisons, versions of social networks including Facebook, MySpace, Loopt, Limbo and Shozu, and media applications such as Pandora Radio.

Of the more than 550 applications available to download directly to an iPhone, 135 of them are available free of charge.

TechCrunch has posted a number of descriptions of the new applications, complimented by product demo videos, as well as a ranking of the top downloaded applications as of mid-day Thursday.

So far, the most popular iPhone applications are Remote, which allows the iPhone to serve as a remote control for iTunes; AIM; Facebook; Google Mobile; and eBay Mobile.

Apple also is slated to begin selling the iPhone 3G Friday morning.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/2wdgc (Macrumors)

http://snipurl.com/2wddm (TechCrunch)

http://snipurl.com/2wdf2 (Ars Technica)

http://www.apple.com/iphone/webapps