This week in iPhone apps saw the release of an official Taco Bell locator app along with two useful medical apps to help with any potential fast food related after effects, helping maintain a nice balance to the App Store.

Taco Bell Locator by The Hyperfactory is the simplest way to satisfy that latenight carving for the infamous “fourthmeal”. This app will locate all Taco Bell locations within a specified radius of your location and will conveniently display all restaurants on a map.

DoctorFinder by Michael Quach let’s you select which medical specialty you’re in need of and will then list all nearby doctors in that field, including name and contact information. Perfect for anything from minor quesadilla burns to hot sauce packet slip and fall injuries.

LifeButton by antilia.biz is an essential app that provides you with one touch access to emergency services including police, fire, and emergency medical services. For when those burrito related emergencies take a turn for the worse, look no further than this app in a moment of need. It will also update any specified contacts with your current location via email.

Skyhook announced partnerships with two different Android location-based apps this week.  The first is Find Starbucks, a local search app that helps users find the Starbucks coffee shop nearest to them.

The second app we announced a partnership with is Apot, a Twitter client app.  The app is very straightforward: it posts geotagged tweets. This way, your followers can view your location on a map.

These apps are simple but both depend on location. This is where Skyhook comes to the rescue.  It is becoming increasingly clear that Android apps which rely heavily on location need Skyhook in order to provide the best functionality for users.

To get up-to-the-minute updates of Skyhook news and partnership announcements, follow us on Twitter: @SkyhookWireless

As if we all weren’t dependent enough on our shiny iPhones, this week the App Store got some great new apps that highlight the little problems that never had a good solution until now.

I’m In Town by MEDL MOBILE fixes the longtime problem of forgetting to call a friend when you’re visiting in town. With the touch of a button the app scans all the addresses in your contacts list and alerts everyone living within a certain radius of your current location that you’re in town with a text message. Whether just visiting or traveling on business, I’m In Town simplifies the process of letting friends and associates know that you’re in town.

MapMarker by Worqbench is the app you need when exploring a new area. Did you ever pass by a unique shop or eat at a local restaurant you didn’t want to forget? With MapMarker you can easily and quickly make a note of where you are and why that place might be worth remembering. The app seamlessly integrates with Google Maps to mark your locations in a familiar interface.

Wake Me Up (GPS Alarm Clock) by G. Di Pietro & J. Gander finally lets the weary traveler nap with peace of mind. This alarm clock can be set to wake the user based on when they arrive at their desired destination. The app periodically checks the user’s current location and the distance remaining to their destination to ensure the most accurate activation of the alarm. Once the user specified destination is reached, the app will start ringing and (hopefully) wake up the user.

By Amir Shaikh

This week in iPhone apps yielded a couple of interesting new apps that provide some helpful new tools for iPhone users.

iSunBurn by Monika Morris provides you the UV index for any location in the United States. Either enter which location you are interested in manually or allow the app to access your current location to receive a quick update of your area’s UV index. iSunBurn helps turn the guessing game of sun tanning into a predictable science for beach goers this summer.

Community Leash by Shawn Grant lets pet owners everywhere band together to help each other locate lost pets. Users are alerted to lost pets close to their location. They can also upload pictures of their own lost pets to the community or even use their iPhone camera to take photos of other potentially lost pets.

By Amir Shaikh

This week in iPhone apps took us back to basics with a traditional turn-by-turn navigation app, an extensive weather app, and a community based travel guide app.

MobileNavigator North America by Navigon AG has been long awaited by turn-by-turn navigation iPhone fans. This app charges a one time fee of $69.99 instead of requiring a regular subscription fee like other navigation apps have decided to charge. It comes preloaded with NAVTEQ’s latest maps and offers both 2-D and 3-D map views while driving.

CloudBurst by Advenio strives to become your one stop destination for all things weather. This app gives you the basics (current temperature, wind, visibility) well enough but it really shines with a current weather radar picture and four day forecast available on the same screen. And thanks to iPhone location you don’t even have to type out your zip code.

Keeping in the spirit of weather, Dopplr - The Social Atlas, by Dopplr brings the popular online Dopplr community to the iPhone. Dopplr is essentially a collaborative travel guide where users can recommend any new discoveries they made while traveling to the rest of the Dopplr community. With the Dopplr app for iPhone the worldly traveler can stay truly mobile as they explore new places and discover new attractions.

By Amir Shaikh

This week in iPhone apps has something for everyone; a location based to-do list for the forgetful among us, a mobile driving coach for the bad driver in the next lane (because it definitely isn’t us), and a logbook app to help sea travelers keep track of their journeys.

To-Do List.Propelled by Transistor Studios is another example of interesting apps that have been branded by recognizable companies to serve as both a useful application and a marketing vehicle. This app stands out because it takes your regular “to do” list to a whole new level. Input something you need to get done and To-Do List.Propelled will churn out what places you should visit and in what order you should visit them, based on your location, with the goal of having you spend the least amount of time possible on your errands.

Bliss Trek by MaxQData is a quirky app that both records your driving statistics (ie distance traveled, average speed, etc) and coaches you, while you’re driving, on how to adjust your driving habits to save gas and reduce pollution. Its unique visual style, combined with its intriguing function, is sure to make this app catch a few eyes.

JourSail by Medienkonzepte GbR is an attractive logbook app designed to catalogue every step of your maritime journey. This is the app to get for the summer sailor looking towards open waters for a new adventure. You can define exactly how often you’d like to enter a new log. Each log contains important information about our trip like nautical miles traveled, compass bearing, and current location of log entry. Keep an entry of every major part of your trip and walk your friends through your time at sea afterwards.

By Amir Shaikh

Skyhook released its monthly Location Aware App Review this week, analyzing Apple’s App Store, Google’s Android Marketplace, Blackberry App World, Nokia’s Ovi Store and the Palm App Catalog.  The report reveals some interesting trends regarding pricing in the stores, and focuses on the Apple and Android stores specifically as they are the longest running of the bunch.

Check out this GigaOm article detailing the “dirty little secrets” we discovered here.  This article discusses the most interesting trend we discovered, the release of mass produced “Bulk Apps” in the Apple App Store.  Bulk Apps are template-based apps sold at the same price, all having the same look and feel but with swapped out content.  These Bulk Apps caused significant growth in the total number of LBS apps in Q2 of this year.  One developer sold over 850 travel apps based around the same template, but with different content based on specific cities.

About 1/3 of Apple LBS apps are these mass-produced local search or travel suite apps.  There are over 65,000 apps in the Apple App store, but it is important to understand that bulk apps play a big role in this volume.

Skyhook will continue to monitor the Bulk Apps in the upcoming months across all of the app stores, to see if the trend catches on.  We are already starting to see Bulk Apps in the Android Marketplace, though none yet in the LBS category.  It will be interesting to see in August if the newer stores choose to model themselves more closely to the Apple Store in hopes on garnering the same success.

July’s report can be accessed here.

Skyhook teamed up with yet another Android app this week, Where is My Android (WIMA), by French-based company Kijiten.  WIMA is a device recovery app that allows users to follow in real time their lost or stolen mobile phone on Google Maps wherever they are, even if they can’t use the internet. Version 1.0 also permits the control of the phone from the company’s website: a user can make the phone automatically take photos and record sounds of its surrounding area.

The partnership is significant.  Every app that adds Skyhook exposes more and more developers to the technology and shows them the potential of Skyhook on their own apps.  It also shows that small developers are more willing to incur extra costs and development time for Skyhook technology than to suffer the flawed native Android location.  We are excited to expand our exposure on the Android platform, and help to bring the best location possible its unique LBS apps.

Looking for summer love but too intimidated at the thought of approaching someone new? The App Store has you covered with new location based dating apps this week to help you break the ice and meet that special someone.

eyeFlirt by Logia Group is a sleek dating application that finds potential significant others based on your own preferences. The app quickly finds close by matches and allows you to text, chat, and, if things go well, meet with them without having to worry about the awkward introductions.

Aloha! Dating Lite is the free version of the popular Aloha Dating app by David Atherton. Like the paid version, this app allows you to create a dating profile and finds nearby matches. You can easily browse close by user’s profiles as you decide who sounds just right for you. After that all you have to do is share your contact info and hope they feel the same way.

Just in case you find yourself happily in the friend zone, the Top Friends app by Slide, Inc. allows you to keep track of your friends in one convenient app. Without having to deal with the clutter of your contacts list or other social networks, Top Friends lets you add only your closest friends so you can share your location, text each other, call, and email without leaving the application.

By Amir Shaikh