This was originally broadcast on iMediaConnection.com

With the introduction of the new version of the iPhone and the iTunes application store, Apple has demonstrated the combination of a few critical components that should make every smart digital marketer sit up in their chair and start brainstorming on how their brand can get a share of voice with this prime audience.

First, the progression of widgets from the desktop computer to the iPhone clearly demonstrates how you transition an audience from free content to almost $500 million per year with small bits of utility unified across screens, regardless of where they are. Yes, it is the monetization of widgets, in plain sight.

Second, and most importantly, these small interactions spread across multiple devices are the future of your brand. As of right now, and certainly as more carriers adopt similar mobile platforms, the way to drive awareness and action will not be through a funnel.

As my mother likes to say, “I’m not going to tell you ‘I told you so.’” If you would like some basics on how to leverage the iPhone for your brand, start with this article I wrote more than a year ago on iMediaConnection — “Give Your Brand the iPhone Halo.”

But last year was last year. Now that the applications have launched on the iPhone, what can we learn? Following are the highlights of what I’ve seen in the Apple application store, how they’re leveraging unique iPhone technology, and where the opportunities are for brand marketers.

Virtual pints, personal endorsements

Sure, “Super Monkey Ball” from Sega is getting all the press for how incredibly well it is selling, but “iPint” from Carling came right out of the gate as the first marketer to use the same iPhone Accelerometer technology.

As you tilt the phone, much like the Wii remote, the Pint of beer navigates its way around obstacles like bowls of salty snacks — there’s a product placement opportunity within a marketing vehicle — and down the bar to a waiting patron.

After a tough round of iPint, what’s more refreshing than a virtual Carling? The iPhone fills with virtual beer as your reward. Tip the phone and the glass empties realistically. After knocking back a few virtual ones, sending a pint (email to friend to download) is two taps away.

How did I first hear about iPint? Maybe a day after getting the phone, I was sitting in a bar with friends. When the beers came to the table, Rob said, “This reminds me, I have to show you iPint.” We may have been drinking a different brand, but Carling was personally advertised, evangelized and passed around between us for 10 minutes while we sipped — right where we can make a buying decision.

Unfortunately, this application has already become somewhat of a collector’s item, as it’s no longer available in the U.S. iTunes store. Still, it’s a great lesson on how portable the marketing experiences and viral opportunities are in the context of the accelerometer, the phone and a few friends. This is merely for the free version. For $2.99, iBeer takes users deep into the virtual beer-drinking experience. Think for a moment as it ranks No. 11 among paid applications that iBeer is, in-and-of-itself, a brand.

Test-driving engagement

Games aren’t just for beer. One application that is free to download and is another excellent example for marketers is the “Audi A4 Driving Challenge.” Again, using the accelerometer, turning the iPhone like a steering wheel guides your responsive Audi A4 through the test track to try and beat your best time (or in my case, just trying to stay within the cones).

Currently parked as the fourth most popular free application in iTunes, it can only be assumed that hundreds of thousands of core audience members are test driving the A4 right now from their phones. I am not the target market, having recently purchased a car, but even so, I spent five minutes driving it around the track.

One feature notable in its absence is the ability to show a video at the start of the game. This was a missed opportunity by the Audi marketing and game development teams to follow the example set by “Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D” to really create a broadcast environment around the game play. Even 10 seconds of polished intro video makes a difference to the experience.

As more brands look for ways to reach potential customers in economical tough times, Audi has hit on a winner. If you’re looking for ways to reach an affluent audience while reducing your TV buy, this Audi iPhone application game is a fantastic model. It creates far more flow state than any TV ad, gets people comfortable with the notion of your product, and feels like a “try before you buy” that lasts longer and is far more personal than an entire broadcast flight.

Take-out for live events

My wife and I have a difference of opinion. She feels as though baseball is the most utterly boring event on earth. I don’t.

Luckily, “MLB.com At Bat” affords me the opportunity to see exactly what’s happening in any Major League Baseball game. It updates every 15 seconds that I have the application open.

But where “At Bat” gets really interesting is by tapping the camera icon. Instantly, the user is taken to a list of regularly updated video highlights, which take advantage of the iPhone’s YouTube video player to show about 30 seconds of the play I just missed. If I’m in Wi-Fi range, the video is crisp and lively. When I’m on the road and using one of the cellular data networks, “At Bat” detects that and quickly streams a decent, lower-bandwidth video highlight.

Stripping away the baseball and my personal need for counterbalancing reality TV and countdown shows, there are important takeaways for marketers:

Even if your video assets aren’t live, the iPhone’s capability to detect bandwidth and deliver stunningly crisp on-demand video is impressive. Remember, the baseball video isn’t live, but as soon as it appears in my list of available videos, it has a certain immediacy and convenience no other channel has. While people are skipping your ads on DVR, your core audience may be drawn to them if you release spots to the iPhone as they’re finished.

Secondly, instantly updated content is still content. Whether that’s the balls and strikes or serving press releases to tech-savvy reporters or recipes to curious, affluent moms, Major League Baseball has shown all of us how quickly you can repurpose existing content into an engaging iPhone application to lock in your most loyal fans.

What’s more, it shows that those loyal audience members are willing to pay $4.99 in exchange for a richer experience than what is available from your WAP site, if you already have a presence there. Of all the applications I have downloaded, this is the one I check most regularly.

Socially driven in location, words, and pictures

There are a lot of applications already on the iTunes store vying for a share of the audience’s finger taps. Social networking has been bestowed with its own category, but there are no clear winners, no runaway killer apps — yet. But there are a few worth mentioning as marketing lessons while companies try varied approaches to combining various iPhone hardware features.

Enhancing the existing experience by changing the context

You can find iPhone-specific versions of Facebook, MySpace, CareerBuilder, LinkedIn and even Xbox Live’s store.

“Xbox Live Friends” is interesting as an extreme because it shows you who in your network is currently online, saving you the hassle of having to boot up the machine in order so see who’s available to play with. That’s it.

Writing about it here seems like a no-brainer: the content is already web-accessible, and one tap on the iPhone saves the user a few minutes of what can lead to deep brand frustration. It’s one of those situations where it’s tough to make a quantitative case for how much that frustration is worth in the long run. Ranking as the sixth most popular social networking application in the store, and having 130 reviews at the time of writing this article, hints to that greater, long-term brand value.

Facebook is fun but limited, and it takes advantage of the uniqueness of photo viewing on the iPhone by allowing the user to flick through friends’ photo albums, pinch to zoom out, spread two fingers to zoom in. This iPhone app shows how dynamic the Facebook platform really is because just having the functions that work best on the phone (status, wall, friends, chat, inbox) make it worth keeping and using.

Twinkle, twinkle little star

“Twinkle” is a Twitter client for the iPhone that also shows you people who are using the service near you, thanks to the GPS feature of the device. On second thought, Twinkle isn’t just a Twitter client — it’s a competitor.

Since Twinkle is a location-based microblogging brand very close to Twitter, the smart folks over at Twinkle realized that to create a user base, all they need to do is allow you to create an account with your (already validated to be unique) Twitter username and password.

Half of the Twinkle service is providing you with an iPhone-interfaced way to stay in touch with your Twitter friends, while the other half only feels like Twitter. It’s really the Twinkle network, showing you Twinkle members that are within a certain radius of you. Pretty sneaky.

What makes this interesting for brands is the immediacy with which I can find people with common interests close to me. They’re Tweeters with iPhones, and they’re right here!

Make your brand a shared social experience

This becomes a lot more dynamic if I know we share other interests in common, too. What if Home Depot showed me that other Tweeters were in the store? Or if TGI Fridays could allow me to interact with other Tweeting diners who are also planning on some jalapeno poppers tonight in my area? You’ve added an entirely new value to the experience.

Of course, that’s only the beginning to enhancing the tangible experience of your brand with the iPhone. If we go back to the games analogy from earlier and add tweets and location, your brand becomes a living, breathing national game. Collect virtual tokens at each retail location, share or trade with friends for discount coupons, or level-ups, or….

Last, but absolutely not least, is the way iPhone applications can integrate with the built-in camera. From the obvious applications like social networking and mapping come two bar code applications.

When I saw how easy it was to download the ability to read a variety of dynamic bar codes, it’s like a direct line was opened to our nation’s most affluent buyers. Any brand is a few bar codes away from adding an entire discourse of information, wallpapers, ringtones, application, videos and deeper engagement with iPhone equipped prospects.

Welcome to the future of device-based marketing

Say what you will about the iPhone, but brands who want to thrive must adopt this model of providing their audience with access to the brand through the screens and devices they interact with throughout their day.

The iPhone is a critical — and profitable — first step towards creating a digital marketing and content mix that makes a difference with the consumers who spend the most on being in touch with your brand.

Even taking the first step of making your website iPhone-compatible is a good place to begin understanding how your brand plays in this profoundly personal and dynamic space.

And think critically about the easy answers you might be getting from a more traditional agency. If you don’t have a digital agency helping you create a solid iPhone foundation to build on, you may just be shifting those dollars into applications no one will bother to use.

Remember: it’s all about helping people do the things they already do in a cooler, more efficient or more memorable way. Your brand is the context within which they do it.

Related posts:

1. What Are the Opportunities Your Brand is Missing On The iPhone?
2. Give Your Brand the iPhone Halo
3. iPhone Ruling the Mobile Web
4. iPhone SDK coming March 6