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So with the third incarnation of the iPhone I think we are about to see the start of premium applications that do much more than wrap an internet service in a cool u/i, or play a dozen different fart sounds. Most importantly they aren’t going to cost $1.99, no sirreee.

The most touted premium app is most definitely turn by turn navigation and, in particular, Tom Tom for the iPhone. But already there have been a couple of navigation apps that have beaten Tom Tom to the punch. The interesting thing about these apps is the price: Gokivo may only be $1 to buy but if you want turn-by-turn that’s going to cost you $9.99 a month. Yes, a month, or $120 a year! I’ve been a big fan of the Navigon GPS units and they too have an app for the iPhone, only in Europe right now. Navigon’s Mobile Navigator costs the equivalent of $104 to buy.

Are we ready to spend this much on an iPhone app, no matter how good or useful? The argument I read is that the GPS companies have to make up for the fact they aren’t getting and hardware revenue. But I’d make the argument that I’ve already paid for hardware, why should I be paying “again”? And is $10 a month worthwhile for an app that I generally might only find truly useful 2-3x a year – most of the time I know how to get home.

I suspect most iPhone owners will be horrified when they realise how much these things are going to cost but, like any Apple product, they’ll pay up in the end. Me? I’m not so sure.

If you’re reading this in RSS land then you won’t have noticed but the ol’ blog has been upgraded to WP 2.8 (which I doubt you can tell from anywhere) and you won’t have noticed we have an all new theme. It’s not quite finished yet, still need to make updates to the sidebar, add some social network icons, flick and vimeo sidebars, things like that. But I like the overall scheme of things. Come back later to see the changes.