As a sidebar to her mega-tribute to Apple’s mobile dominance, Jenna Wortham of the New York Times asked Phil Schiller about his favorite iPhone apps. And, quelle surprise, they’re all extremely popular, many of them having been featured in TV ads and Apple keynote events.

• Shazam — The remarkable music-identification app has been featured in a TV commercial and regularly appears in print
• CNN — The country’s No. 2 24-hour news network (and one of the most popular websites on the Internet) has been a perennial top-seller on the App Store, at one time hitting No. 1 for all paid apps
• Facebook — Featured in more than one ad, and is the most popular social network in the world
• MLB.com At Bat — Featured in TV ads and not one, but two Apple keynotes
• NBA Game Time — Basically the above, but for basketball
• ESPN ScoreCenter — The same, but for more sports
• Eliminate — Demoed on stage at the introduction of the iPhone 3GS
• geoDefense — Actually not that hyped. Probably the most obscure title on the list, but it’s still been named one of Apple’s top 4 favorite iPhone games
• Best Camera — Created by award-winning iPhone photographer Chase Jarvis, but a legitimate app store success story developed by an indie team and rising thanks to its merits

What do you reckon? Does your taste trend with Phil’s, or is he hopelessly vanilla in his picks?

The Droid, the Motorola-made smartphone sold by Verizon, is now taking the iPhone head-on, comparing Apple’s iconic handset to a “tiara-wearing digitally clueless beauty pageant queen.” The new ad, entitled “Pretty” features a blonde woman applying lipstick while walking and admiring an iPhone-looking device.

“It’s not a princess, it’s a robot,” the commercial intones, referring to the Android-based handset. “A phone that trades hair-do for can-do.” Verizon is the rival to AT&T, currently the exclusive iPhone carrier in the United States. Recently, Verizon and AT&T have traded salvos both on-air and in the courtroom.

Whether you’re looking for a MacBook Pro laptop or an iPod touch, there’s a deal for you. PC Connection is selling 2.26GHz 13-inch Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro laptops for $850. A 64GB version of Apple’s popular iPod touch is $340 from Mac Connection. Whether you have an iPhone or an iPod, an 80 percent-off discount sale on iPhone cases from HandheldItems.com might prove interesting. Along the way, we check out other Mac-related hardware, including Altec Lansing’s inMotion MIX iMT800 boombox for iPod or iPhone.

As always, for details on these bargains or many others, check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

We start December off with a couple deals on MacBook Pro laptops, including an Apple Store offer from $999. Next we have some price drops on a number of App Store applications for your iPhone or iPod touch. We round out our top trio of deals with Apple iWork ’09 for $55. Along the way, we take a look at Belkin’s iPod start kit and several software deals.

For details on these and many other Apple-related bargains, check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the break.

We end the month of November with a number of ways to get your Christmas shopping (remember, just 25 days left) off to a good start. iMacs and MacBooks were big sellers on Black Friday and we have them both. First up, 22-inch Core 2 Duo iMacs running at 3.06 GHz. The desktop computers come with 8GB RAM and AppleCare for $1,407. Next is a 13-inch MacBook laptop, running 2.26 GHz with 4GB RAM and 500GB HD for $1,149. Along the way we check out a third-generation iPod touch for $170, Apple’s 2TB Time Capsule for $449 and a new batch of App Store Freebies.

As always, details on these and many other bargains are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump. Good hunting!

While you wait for the bird, the pies and the Thanksgiving Day football, check out some of the deals for your iPhone, iPod and Mac. Nothing goes better with gorging yourself on apple pie than yet another freebie from iTunes. This time we have Royce da 5’9″ “Something to Ride.” Next up is a number of classic games from Electronic Arts, including Tetris, SimCity and Madden. Finally, if you have a Mac but work with Windows files, get the best of both worlds with a deal on Parallels 5.0 for $40.

For details on all of these details and more (like a skin for the Nike+ iPod sensor), check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

iPhone owners are more willing to pay for digital content than the wider online audience, two new UK surveys find. The results may support publishers looking to the iPhone to boost sales of digital magazines, video and other material. The introduction of the App Store, where iPhone owners purchase software from their handsets, has developed a class of consumers less resistant to digital purchases.

“It seems to be that people get used to paying for content, such as an application on the iPhone because it is so easy and the idea of paying for something suddenly becomes much less of a barrier that it is online,” said Peter Enser, partner with Olswang which creates the annual Olswang Convergence Study.

It’s not just HDTVs that are on sale this Black Friday. Lots of iPhone developers are dropping prices for the holidays also.

App Cubby, for example, maker of the popular Gas Cubby app for tracking gas mileage, is dropping the cost of its apps by 30 percent through the Thanksgiving holiday. Several other developers have also temporarily dropped prices, including DOOM Resurrection and BeejiveIM.

A good way to track apps on sale is to check App Shopper’s “prices” view. There’s a lot of crap, but to spot the good stuff, keep an eye on an app’s icon. A good icon generally means a good app. A good icon

Here are some links for apps on sale:

• Gas Cubby — iTunes — AppShopper
• Trip Cubby — iTunes — AppShopper
• Health Cubby — iTunes — AppShopper
• DOOM Resurrection $2.99 — iTunes — AppShopper
• BeejiveIM $6.99 — iTunes — AppShopper
• Tipulator $0.99 — iTunes — AppShopper
• Mathemagics: Mental Math Tricks $0.99 — iTunes — AppShopper

Please let us know if you see other good ones we should highlight.

AT&T will lose its exclusive hold on the iPhone in June 2010, analyst Brian Marshall said recently. In a television interview, the AmTech analyst also said Apple will receive $300 per iPhone AT&T and other carriers sell, down from the current $450 subsidy from the U.S. carrier.

Talking to Bloomberg TV, Marshall said iPhone owners, who comprise just 4 percent of AT&T subscribers, use 40 percent of network bandwidth.

We close out the week and prepare for the long flights, long waits and long lines as Thanksgiving rears its head. To get you ready (maybe even point out a stocking-stuffer or two), we offer our top trio of deals. First up, nothing beats a good set of in-ear “headphones.” This deal features ‘phones from Apple that slice $6 from other offers. Next up: more and more of us take the office wherever we travel. To make work-at-home easier, there is a $50 deal on Apple’s iWork ’09 suite of applications. To relax, there is always the iPhone or iPod touch – and what are they without some apps. Apple has unveiled another batch of apps that’ll cost you nada – the perfect price as you compare this year’s shopping list with your always shrinking budget.

For details on these bargains and more (like a Samsung Luxia HDTV), check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.