According to new research from the social media services provider Virtue, the Apple iPhone was the most talked about brand across social media sites in 2008. Apple itself and its iPod also made the list of the top ten most talked about brands. The BlackBerry came only 20th.

The first twenty on the list were as follows:

1.    iPhone
2.    CNN
3.    Apple
4.    Disney
5.    Xbox
6.    Starbucks
7.    iPod
8.    MTV
9.    Sony
10.   Dell
11.   Microsoft
12.   Ford
13.   Nintendo
14.   Target
15.   PlayStation
16.   Mac
17.   Turner
18.   Hewlett-Packard
19.   Fox News
20.   BlackBerry

iPhone Developer Summit (www.iphonedevsummit.com) has announced Ian Thain as the Tech Chair of the Conference. In a Letter from the Tech Chair at the conference Website, Thain writes: "With the iPhone more than earning its place in the consumer market, it is now being adopted by enterprises. In fact, many believe that the iPhone will be the most adopted enterprise device in 2009."

From a starting-point of just over 500 when it launched in July, Apple's App Store has about 15,000 applications available and downloads have surpassed 500 million.

The Call for Papers for the event, being held June 22 at The Roosevelt Hotel in New York City in conjunction with the 7th International AJAXWorld RIA Conference & Expo, expires February 28, 2009. For those who are trying to stake a claim for early prominence in the mobile economy, this is an excellent event to speak at. The Call for Papers and submission URL is here.



Topics to be covered in New York City will include the most timely aspects of iPhone development as well as iPhone applications, including subjects such as:

• Web Development for iPhone
• SDK Development for iPhone
• iPhone Development tools 101
• How do I get my iPhone Application accepted by Apple?
• Game Development
• Data Management
• Enterprise Mobility with the iPhone
• Multi-Touch Technologies
• User Experience
• Security
• Audio & Video
• Tools & Frameworks
• Taking on Objective-C/C++ and Cocoa
• iPhone Development tools 101
• Database driven applications on the iPhone
• iPhone GUI Design

Submit Your Speaking Proposal Today !

About the iPhone Developer Summit Tech Chair:

Ian Thain is Senior Technical Evangelist at Sybase Inc, where he works on the Sybase Unwired Platform (SUP). He is also Editor of iPhone Developer's Magazine. Thain is an expert technologist has been involved in Enterprise Mobility from 2003 and in his customer facing role, he is very involved with the design, production and testing of Enterprise class UnWired Solutions that have been implemented using Sybase's UnWired tools for Sybase customers around the globe.

• iPhone Developer Summit Names Ian Thain 2009 Conference Tech Chair