Hasta La Gadget!

2009 was the “year of the app,” especially for the iPhone, whose App Store is overflowing with more than 100,000 offerings. While it’s easy to make fun of the more ridiculous apps, some truly stellar wares stood out from that massive pile, and we’re taking the time to honor them.

We recently published Wired readers’ favorite iPhone apps of 2009, as well as Apple’s top picks. Now it’s our turn. The Wired staff has chosen its 20 favorite apps, broken into separate categories: productivity, games, hobbies, and travel and outdoors. These are apps we deemed exceptional either for their innovation, elegant design, usefulness or a combination of all these qualities.

Ready for this? Drum roll, please.

Productivity

BeeJiveIM
We’ve been using instant messaging for years, but BeeJiveIM is the most feature-rich, well-designed app we’ve seen that crams this communication method into our pockets. The app supports several IM services (such as Google chat, AIM and Yahoo! Messenger), as well as chat-room functionality and the ability to upload videos and photos. Plus, it’s got push support, so IMs can pop up on your iPhone, just like text messages, the instant you receive them. It’s a fancy app worth the $10 (on sale for $7 until Jan. 1, 2010). Download BeeJiveIM.

Dropbox
Who doesn’t like Dropbox? The service allows you to store and share your computer’s files online through a “dropbox” folder, and this new iPhone app allows you to access your Dropbox anywhere you go. On the iPhone, Dropbox really comes in handy for listening to your friends’ shared music or viewing their videos and photos. The Dropbox service is free for 2 GB of storage per month. It costs $10 per month for 50 GB and $20 per month for 100 GB. The iPhone app is free. Download Dropbox.

Instapaper
We’re gaga for Instapaper here at Wired. The app is perfect for tech-savvy newshounds constantly on the run — i.e., us. After downloading the app, you add a “Read Later” button to your web browser toolbar. Whenever you see a webpage with contents you want to save to read on your iPhone, you click the Read Later button. Launch Instapaper et voila — it’s there. Very useful not just for saving web articles, but also recipes, map directions, airplane itineraries and so on. The app is $5; there’s also a light version you can get for free. Download Instapaper.

Tweetie 2
We’ve been raving about this app for months, and with good reason: Tweetie 2 is probably the most loved app in the App Store. Its beautiful interface and rich feature set make using Twitter a blast. It’s a must-have for any Twitter user with an iPhone. Tweetie 2 is $3. Download Tweetie 2.