Getting Started With Your New iPod Touch

The iPod Touch was a hugely popular gift for Christmas last week. If you got an iPod Touch or iPhone, read on for pointers to our favorite free and cheap iPod Touch apps. And if you didn't get an iPhone or Touch, we have some alternatives for you.This graph from MarketShare by Net Applications tells the story -- look at the spike that starts Christmas Eve, peaks Christmas Day, and is going strong today, showing increased Mobile Safari usage.

App developers report a 2-4x sales boost over Christmas, according to 148apps, a blog following the App Store. Free apps are seeing a 5x boost in downloads.

And Amazon.com reported that iPod sales are huge.

If you're one of those new iPod Touch owners, what apps should you download?

InformationWeek has a couple of guides to useful iPhone apps (rather than games), posted not too long ago: 7 iPhone apps worth paying for points you to applications for sharing files with your Mac or PC, syncing notes, using Twitter from your iPhone, getting organized, and more. The combined cost of all the apps is about $50.

And take a look at our recommendations for 13 free iPhone apps, to help you connect with Facebook and LinkedIn, use your iPhone as a remote for iTunes, read e-books, and more.

If you got an iPhone rather than a Touch, look at how PR guru and popular blogger Steve Rubel uses the iPhone as a laptop replacement.

And if you didn't find an iPod Touch or iPhone 3G under your tree, check out our guide to 8 killer iPhone 3G alternatives, and 8 reasons to pick the BlackBerry Storm over the iPhone,