Thursday I woke to my iPhone blipping with a text message from my brother. “Dude. iTunes update the app store is open. Updating now.” It’s 7 a.m., and he once again out-Macheads me.

After trying to sleep for another hour, I dragged myself to the computer to update iTunes and check out the software I’ve impatiently waited on for months. Hundreds of programs teased me from the store’s pages: I could download them, but couldn’t use them without the accompanying 2.0 firmware. So goes my love/hate relationship with Apple.

Then I got an email, again from my brother, telling me about a leak of the firmware. Zoinks! I downloaded, updated and got my app on in short order. My two word review: limitless potential. The handful of apps I grabbed stretch the device in whole new directions. Facebook has tight integration, and you can even upload photos to your profile directly from the iPhone. AIM rocks. VoiceNotes is OK; I may shop around for a different voice recorder. Remote is cool as hell. And PhoneSaber is just plain kooky fun. I could go on (and probably will once I find more cool software). Point being, all these were freeware. There’s even better programs with price tags.

I’m glad I updated Thursday, after reading about problems Apple and AT&T had during the official Friday rollout. I read tonight on Macrumors that the unofficial version I installed may have been meant for the 3G devices, but it’s running like a charm, so I’m in no hurry to get the proper version. I’ll wait until the hullabaloo dies down, and in the meantime enjoy twice the device I had earlier this week.