The best thing about Apple’s new iPhone 3G isn’t the increased speed or built-in GPS. It’s the App Store, according to Walt Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

"In just the first 10 days since the new iPhone and the App Store launched on July 11, more than 900 programs ... have been introduced by numerous developers. Over 90% cost less than $10 or are free," Mr. Mossberg noted. [More than 100 of those 900 claimed by Apple are books, however.]

Best of all, the process searching and downloading these iPhone apps is quick and easy. They’re well designed, easy to use and in some cases entertaining.

The range of applications is amazing. Some are serious, like business programs from Oracle, Salesforce.com and Bloomberg. However, many others are zany, like a Star Wars light saber, a rotary phone dialer, and even an app that turns the iPhone into a flashlight for emergencies.

Mr. Mossberg recapped some of his favorites, a good place to start for the curious or those who’d like an expert overview. Notably, however, Mr. Mossberg characterized the state of iPhone app development:

"Apple’s baby isn’t the first smart phone that has attracted developers. Thousands of third-party programs already exist for Nokia phones, BlackBerrys, and phones running the Palm and Windows Mobile operating systems. But, compared with the graphically rich, snappy iPhone apps -- many of which fetch data from the Internet at high speed -- the typical program on these older platforms looks positively primitive.