Tive already pointed out (link), brands have not exactly fallen over themselves to launch iPhone apps.

I intended this to be a review of the top five, but by the time you discount media owners like the New York Times and online brands like Facebook and Google, there are only five branded apps, one of which is terrible (find out which below).

That’s pretty poor when you consider that there are now 1,386 apps in the store.

1. Talking Phrasebooks (Last Minute)

By far the most actually useful branded app. Not the most comprehensive phrasebook going, but the fact that it also talks the phrases is a great boon to unconfident linguists. You could say this wasn’t a brand application as it looks like Last Minute just sponsored it, but still, a great experience.

2. iPint (Carling)

The original and probably the most talked about. We met the guys behind this last week from Illusion Labs http://www.illusionlabs.se/ They are a couple of bright young Scandinavians who are suddenly being offered big moolah for their three-man start-up company on the back of this very neat application. Have a virtual iPint on them.

3. BA Flights (British Airways)

A very solid offering, giving you flight times, searchable by number, airport and date/time. Not much of a brand experience. Still, at least it works.

4. Chanel

This did catch me by surprise. The first fashion house into this space. It looks nice, demoing the latest Chanel season in photographs and a quick summary video. There are also store locators with click-to-call functionality (although they listed their Heathrow stores under ‘Hounslow’ - not quite the glamorous location they were intending, I’m sure.) However, it felt somewhat underwhelming especially as the news has not been updated for 3 weeks. More for the trade than for consumers.

And the worst offering? That clearly goes to…

5. The Dark Knight - Hahaha (Batman)

Allows you to take a photo, stick some Dark Knight-related gumph over the top and email it to someone. Fiddly, difficult to use, prone to crashing and generally underwhelming. Very poor.

Tags: apps, iPhone, top 5