The early reviews are in and the iPhone 2.0 (available to us mere mortals beginning today) is getting high marks, for now justifying the massive hype. It’s faster, cheaper and open to more apps, Walt Mossberg at the WSJ writes. It’s the last part that has most of us buzzing. Apple launched an App Store for outside developers to bring enhanced functionality to the iPhone. Here’s what we’ve seen so far:

Mobile blogging:
Already we’ve seen that Typepad and Word Press have built apps to allow its blogging software users to post on the go with the iPhone. Brace yourself for very succinct posts. The iPhone keyboard is clever, but a bit frustrating if you have to write more than a few sentences.

Games and Shopping:
M-commerce is a phrase that’s been kicked around for years by analysts. But hardly anybody else cares. With eBay and AOL setting up shop on the iPhone expect that to change. You cannot use the iPhone to buy on Amazon, however.

Throw out the Blackberry:
All your emails, contacts and calendar info is now accessible on the iPhone. Even Microsoft Exchange is there.

Map Geeks, there’s GPS!
I think this is going to be one of the more popular functions of the 3G iPhone. The ability to get location-specific details — nearby cinemas with the latest movie times, restaurants with recent diner reviews, everything you need if you are in an unfamiliar city and need trusted details on where to go and where to avoid.

What’s it missing?
As many are pointing out, you’re stuck (for now) with Safari as your browser, a dreadful substitute for the king of browsers, Firefox. Silicon Alley Insider has a longer list of grievances including no Skype functionality, no jukebox and no Wi-fi creator.

I’d also like to point out that many of the apps so far are US-centric. We can only hope local developers will address this gap.

– Bernhard