The $100 million iFund announced in March just became a whole lot more interesting as the first two applications to make the grade were announced today. For a little background, the iFund $100 million is run by Apple and venture capital company Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and since March no applications have been given funding until now. The first software, Whrrl, is from Pelago and it brings together the mapping capabilities of the iPhone with the ability to find information about places where you, your friends or anyone else has been. The best example of how Whrrl can help is a situation where you are lost in a city you know nothing about and you need some food recommendations. Simply open Whrrl and it will scan locations of nearby restaurants which you can define by type and it will give you recommendations by foodie friends.
The second application to make the grade, iControl, is a home automation application that gives iPhone users remote control over air conditioners, lighting, window shades and more. The possibilities are endless with iControl’s ability to manage the electronics in your home and hopefully, the software works as good as claims. We are going to hold our breath on this one, but with $100 million in potential funding and this being the second application approved for funding our hopes are high.
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers says an offer has been put to one more startup but they have not leaked any details. Also they said that there are 10 other applications which are being seriously considered so we should be receiving more news in the coming weeks outlining the rest of the applications that will be available to download with the iPhone 2.0 software update in late June. Things are getting exciting for Apple these days, now if we could only get a press release on the 3g iPhone release date before the announcement on June 9 we would be able to sleep at night.
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