If that’s the case, reasoned the team, why not make it easy for me to see the apps that my friends are downloading and rating? Further, why don’t we make it stupid-simple to quickly rate any app we want to — and browse a firehose of other ratings? And wouldn’t it be good to deliver personalised recommendations based on the ratings people submit? While we’re at it, why don’t we take a supremely lucrative affiliate revenue stream from any purchases made as a result of giving people access to this kind of information?

That’s Chomp. It’s utter, utter genius.

To rate an app, you simply search for it and either click the red heart (“love”) or the black and broken heart (“no thank you”) and provide an optional 60 character comment. Done. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out the live app reviews section which is buzzing 24/7. One of the rather cool features is the ability to ‘follow’ other users — and if you’re wondering what apps Kevin Rose or iJustine are enjoying, just click on to the ‘app celebrities’ section and follow them. You’ll get updates every time they rate an app. There’s also the obligatory ‘top reviewers this week’ which shows that giantdolphin50 is way out in the lead with over 800 ratings. The last thing he loved? The Whole Foods Market Recipes (“If you really like 2 eat healthy, this is the app 4 u”).

Chomp launched on the 1st of January this year. Ben and his team were hoping for a modest amount of traction and perhaps a few thousand ratings from the odd new user to get them started. Within 7 days they’d garnered 111,000 ratings. I didn’t ask, but I imagine the Chomp team were, as we say in London, ‘properly shocked’ at the way users reacted. Before they knew it they’d been featured — twice — on the App Store’s top 25 hot apps section. Fast forward 31 days and they’ve done over a million ratings already, ensuring Chomp is well on its way to owning the discovery segment and making the dreams come true of application developers around the planet.

Step forward please, the makers of the 2do App. I’d never heard of it until I saw somebody rate it as a ‘really good to do list application‘.

“I’ll have that,” I thought. Baam. It was paid for an on my device. Likewise ‘Air Sharing’ and ‘ConvertBot’.

If you’d like to see what I’m rating, I’m ew4n on Chomp. Add me!

Right then, let’s have a look at Part 1 of the interview with Ben. I strongly recommend watching, particularly if you’re a developer or at all interested in mobile applications.

Posted via email from MIR Live

It’s a very special video this week — we tried out the SIMable ‘sim unlocking solution’ for handsets on a Nokia N95… and it worked. Then we tried it on an Apple iPhone 3G…. and it worked. An EXCLUSIVE! All on camera for your viewing pleasure. £16 of pure joy, that SIMable. I’ve just ordered one myself.

We were joined by a special guest in the form of Josh Russell — entrepreneur, founder, WiMax specialist and new Tuttle Brighton social media cafe host.

We pull take a look at Duracell’s new mobile phone (and iPhone/iPod) Pocket Charger — thanks Duracell, it’s good to see them bringing their might to this market.

James takes a walk about Covent Garden and checks out the phones in use by the tourists and young things. There are plenty of annoyed CDMA-sporting tourists without their cell phones — and even one Canadian couple (we really felt for them).

And — we had so much feedback from the previous two videos about the bloopers (you really liked them) so we’ve kept them in this week. You must, must, must watch — I kid ye not, James Whatley was ‘spotted’ by some Italian girl who thought he was a famous singer. She proceeded to demand an autograph and photo. No shrinking violet, our very own Superstar Whatley was happy to oblige. Must-see TV.

Here, then, is the high quality video:

Mobile Industry Review Video 17 from Ewan MacLeod on Vimeo.

Featured SMS Text News people:
- Dan Lane
- Ben Smith
- James Whatley
(and me, Ewan, briefly — for my Sony Ericsson News)

Topics discussed:
1. Duracell’s New Mobile Phone (and iPhone/iPod) Pocket Charger ( 01:13 )
2. SIMable ‘sim unlocking solution’ for handsets ( 02:07 )
-Nokia N95 ( 02:40 )
-Apple iPhone 3G ( 06:14 )
3. Sony Ericsson News ( 10:54 )
4. Ewan Macleod discusses the site name change ( 11:16 )
5. Special Guest: Josh Russell ( 12:21 )
6. Femtocell feature coming soon ( 15:40 )
7. James Whatley phone spotting with the Covent Garden Normobs ( 16:48 )
8. James Whatley mistaken for a famous singer? ( 22:30 )

Reading this on a phone? Good news. You can probably view the 3gp version of the video by clicking here. It works on most modern handsets.

Drop me a question in the comments if there’s something you’d like asked of the Nokia big-wigs or about the devices.