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While all other companies have thrown sales goals out the window and are focussing solely on survival, Apple announced they have made their goal of selling 10 million iPhones in 2008. The goal was first announced at MacWorld in January of 2007.

Apple was pretty much on track to make their goal at the beginning of 2008 but with the release of the 3G iPhone, sales were somewhat accelerated. Over 6 million 3G iPhones alone have been sold which more than reached their goal when accounting for all previous sales. Apple made their goal with 2 1/2 months to spare…. proving that if you create a cool enough product people find the money.

The iPhone App titled PhoneSaber was a popular one while it lasted. The free App was going to make our list of favorites however Lucasfilm caught wind of the of the copywrite infringement and pulled it from iTunes since it was not created with George Lucas’ permission nor would he receive the benefits. Your little nerd hearts can pitter patter once more as Apple announced an official version will be released to the App Store soon.

The app will have a new name and a whole new look. The new version, Lightsaber Unleashed, will have a strong link to the new multi-platform title Star Wars ®: The Force Unleashed™, which is out soon. Lightsaber Unleashed will feature exciting characters from this new game as well as vastly improved graphics, sound effects and optional dueling music (which was a popular request).

The new Lightsaber Unleashed version will be a noted upgrade from the blurry graphics of the original PhoneSaber. Though we have a feeling those who still have PhoneSaber on their iPhones will not be deleting it anytime soon as a small part of Star Wars memorabilia. Download the free App to battle away and may the force be with you.

With the release of iPhone Apps some of us are wondering how we survived without them? But of course Free is always the best price, so here are the Smartacus picks for 10 of the best FREE Apps.

1) Tap Tap Revenge- Along the lines of Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution, this game has players tapping to the rhythm on the touch screen. This madly addictive game can be hard to get used to at first but keep practicing and challenge your friends. One of the great things about this game is the 2 player option.

2) Remote- Remote is an App created by Apple. With just an easy configuration you can set-up your iPhone to be a remote control for your computer’s iTunes. It’s a great tool for parties, play whatever songs you want without ever leaving the couch, or the conversation.

3) iPint- The fun part of this App is not really the game, sure it’s entertaining to guide a pint of beer down the bar narrowly missing the bowl of pretzels, but the rewarding part is after you win. A fresh iPhone virtual beer is poured into your iPhone. By tilting the iphone to the side your beer is poured out until it is all gone. You can finally enjoy a beer anywhere virtually.

4) Magic 8 Ball- For all the truly important questions in life, ask the Magic 8 Ball App. It’s just like grade school and just as reliable, “Magic 8 Ball, does Richard like me?” “My sources say “No.”"

5) Sol Free- It was a huge disappointment for a lot of people that the iPhone did not come with games like Solitaire, but the App store comes to the rescue. There are several different free versions of Solitaire but our favorite is Sol Free. It offers 5 different versions of Solitaire, saves your games until you clear them, has unlimited “undo”, and times games for just the amount of time you actually spend in the game.

6) Twitterific- For all you Twitter.com junkies out there this is the App for you. Update your status and check in on your friends to your hearts content. And who knows, it might even help you get out of prison in a foreign country!

7) Evernote- This integrated App will help you keep track of everything you need from your iPhone. You can make notes, save pictures, capture ideas and save them instantly to the web, your iPhone, and your Desktop. This is the perfect application for writers giving a medium for you write your perfect sentence down before it escapes your memory.

8.) Holy Bible- A complete copy of the Bible in every translation and several different languages is available free in the Apps store. Search for your favorite verse or read it through as a study tool, the light weight iPhone won’t have you missing the book. If religion is not really your thing there are many other free books available through the Apps store such as the complete works of Shakespeare.

9) More Cow Bell- Saturday Night Live cult classic sketch of Will Farrel playing the cow bell for Blue Oyster Cult, had Christopher Walken yelling for “More Cow Bell.” Now you can play the cow bell anytime you like thanks to this free App. In fact you can play “Don’t Fear the Reaper” from your iTunes, play along on the cow bell, and help cure Christopher Walken’s fever.

10) Restaurant Nutrition- This useful little App will have you thinking twice before ordering a milk shake from your favorite fast food place. It gives you the calorie content for about 25 different fast food places. If you decide it’s worth the calories to drive to McDonald’s it will even locate the closest one and give you directions on how to get there.

Hope you enjoy the Apps as much as we do and happy downloading!

Several websites started announcing the availability of their iPhone and iPod Touch Apps yesterday. Salesforce.com, and Myspace.com both made the big announcement while Facebook which already had an app received a facelift that is much more user friendly and intuitive.

Apps are being released through iTunes for the time being and are available for download however until the 2.0 update for the iPod Touch is released it won’t do you any good. Apple speculators are saying the update will be available this afternoon.

The new iPhone 3G is off to a running start this morning though we are hearing reports that iPhone activation is down right now. As AT&T scrambles to get it together new iPhone purchasers are instructed to activate the iPhone at home.

With the 3G iPhone releasing on Friday, Apple Stores will be opening at 8:00 AM bright and early to get it into your hot little hand. Apple is offering iPhone workshops at no charge to teach people how to play with their new gadgets properly. They are even offering to have an Apple Store employee set everything up on your new phone (all while wearing their new 3G iPhone t-shirts, of course).

All this assistance and early rising we believe to be an effort to promote the Apps Store that will be available shortly on all iPhones. The new Apps will bring not only more revenue but solidify the existence of the iPhone by basing other companies off of it’s technology.

So get your tents and sleeping bags ready to go Mall Camping on Thursday for the big release at 8:00 AM Friday, July 11.

Apple released a promotional video on Apple.com illustrating the convenient new MobileMe. They have marketed it as “Exchange for the rest of us.”

MobileMe is a secure online server that holds your email, calendar, address book, photos, and files pushing your most current information to all of our devices. MobileMe will work with your Mac, iPhone, PC while also giving you the option to access your information from online from any computer in any location. Web applications can be accessed through Me.com where icons for your mail, address book, calendar, photos, files and account settings are readily available upon login. This means even on your trip to Mexico you can access all your information from any hotel internet center and photos on MobileMe are accessible through Apple TV creating beautiful slide shows of your pictures. The instructional video illustrating every possible feature is on Apple’s website at: http://www.apple.com/mobileme/guidedtour/index.html?size=medium

While Apple only talks about the consumer benefits of such a product the business benefits are obvious. Try MobileMe for free for 60 days or purchase 20GB of space on the secured server for $99 a year. A family plan is also available for $149 a year for 4 people with 40GB of space.

Get a little Pro-Patria in July by spending your Economic Stimulus Check on the new iPhone. Apple announced the release date of the iPhone G3 today. The beautiful new iPhone will be faster, with enterprise features such as Microsoft Exchange.

The iPhone comes in the standard black or new white option with a GPS unit inside giving the Google Map feature an even greater boost. But here is the kicker, this new iPhone which has all the features of the original plus is selling for half the price. It is not available for pre-order on the website as of yet. For purchasing Internet searchers are being directed to the Apple Store.

This idea was first posted on the TUAW website but it was just genius enough to repost on Blogintosh. Membership cards from Hallmark, Staples, Blockbuster, Safeway, Petsmart and every other retail chain plague my wallet leaving little room for the large amounts of cash I make. One little Appletard had the great idea to scan the cards and save them in the iPhone or iPod Touch under iPhoto. The cards are still fully scannable and cut down on wallet size an average of .3 inches. Presumably the same could be done for gift cards, you would just have to remember to delete the photo when the card was used up.

Unfortunately this solution will not work with punch cards or stamp cards but give it a couple months and someone will come up with a solution for that too. Just remember you heard the prediction on Blogintosh first.

With June quickly approaching and the scheduled release of the SDK “store” rumors are fluttering about the new 3G iPhone.

The 3G iPhone has been rumored for months now but recently a price point has also been circulating. The 3G iPhone is said to be going for $199 with a 2 year AT&T contract. The purpose of making a lower end version with an accessible price point is to simply get it in the hands of users. While it would not have the same amount of space as it’s beefy predecessors it would serve the same functionality and become the staple of every 13 year old in America.

The rumors seem very founded when you consider Apple’s huge push for the iPhone to be number one in the corporate market. Companies nationwide would switch and add users to include even entry level employees for such a low cost.

Apple is offering a Developers conference to cover the Mac OS X Leopard and iPhone OS development platforms. Apple is a great encourager of software development for the Mac and now for new SDK development for the iPhone.

The Conference will be in San Francisco, California June 9-13, 2008 and promises sessions and labs with all the Apple engineers offering one on one help. We’re sure it costs a pretty penny as most Apple Conferences do, but if you create the next Google…. it would more than pay for itself.

More information: http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/