Does the iPhone Need Help?

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It’s not Burning Tires 3D, Crazy Tanks or any of the other silliness that makes the iPhone fun to use. Its may not even have the immediate practicality of say, Soonr, which automatically backs up your Mac or PC files to the cloud for easy access from your iPhone.

But somewhere, someday, Tony Bove thinks plenty of iPhone users will find his $2.99 program indispensable.

Released for the App Store earlier this month, Tony’s Tips for iPhone Users is an online help system of thousands of iPhone tips. From how to synchronize an external account with your iPhone to travel tips to saving battery life (e.g., check your email less frequently), Tony’s Tips is designed to provide help for beginning to more advanced iPhone users.

“There’s a general class of iPhone features everyone knows how to use, and beyond those, you can fall into the weeds trying to find what you want,” Bove told InternetNews.com. “Maybe you give up, or look for an iPhone book, or the Internet or ask friends. What I’m trying to do is provide the help iPhone users need, in a standardized way right where they want it, in the device itself.”

Bove also argues that looking online, even using a search engine from within the iPhone, takes longer. For example, start typing “S Y N C” in Tony’s Tips and a list of how to synchronize the iPhone with calendars, contact lists and more pops up.

“If you use Google, you have to be more specific, starting with a search for ‘iPhone Sync’ and going from there,” he said.

While Tony’s Tips is an online resource, sections can be downloaded for offline viewing as well.

The release of Tony’s Tips comes at a time of booming iPhone sales and an unprecedented number of downloads at the App Store. Earlier this month, Apple reported there have been over 500 million downloads at the App Store which now holds over 15,000 applications. In 2008 Apple said it sold 13.7 million iPhones and as that user base continues to broaden from the tech savvy early adopters, the need for help may well broaden with it.

This article was first published on InternetNews.com. To read the full article, click here.