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We’re getting closer and closer to Christmas day, so now’s the time to put up the Appletell Christmas app list for iPhone and iPod touch. There are countless apps available, of course, and we’ll be taking a closer look at some of the best over the next two weeks. In the meantime, as new Christmas apps are announced and old apps are updated—whether they’re games, greeting card generators, novelties or more—we’ll announce them here.

Also be sure to check out our collection of iPhone app holiday deals and promos.

Christmas Games

• The holidays are arriving early this year with the unveiling of some festive, yet quirky new apps that are sure to garner some attention. “The goal behind the apps that we create is for them to be enjoyable and addictive for all iPhone aficionados, of any age,” said Steven Fleisher, managing director of EYEDIP. This season’s newly released apps include Pocket Devil: Xmas Holiday Edition, Hot Air: Fly With Santa, Happy Holidays!, and Pocket Moron.
• Coyote Games has released Roll Xmas Ball 1.0 for iPhone and iPod Touch users. The 2D and 3D roller ball app challenges players to travel through a labyrinth of moving black holes and shifting objects in order to light all the Christmas balls. Controlling play is a matter of tilting the iPhone or iPod Touch. Roll Xmas Ball has nineteen levels, over and above the three training levels and which range from easy to difficult.
• Thumb Labs announced the release this week of the free Trash the Tree, a tongue-in-cheek holiday mini-game for the iPhone and iPod touch. Trash the Tree includes five levels of game-play, in which users will attempt to smash all of the ornaments on a Christmas tree before time runs out. Each new level is preceded by a scrooge-inspired quote, and carries an increasingly difficult objective. Rewarding sound effects and an original version of “Oh Christmas Tree” accompany the app.
• Faster than Monkeys has announced Jam Packed Christmas 1.0, a Christmas Themed version of the highly rated Jam Packed series of logic puzzle games. In this game, you will have to arrange all the presents on each level in Santa’s Sleigh or under a Christmas Tree. The game starts easy, but you will soon be quite challenged trying to get all the different shaped gifts to fit just right. With 50 levels of fun, and more available for download, you will enjoy hours of Holiday fun.
• Mad Finger Games today announced BloodyXmas 1.0, their new 3D survival hack and slash game for iPhone and iPod Touch. Get ready for the funniest, most fun, and most spectacular Christmas ever. BloodyXmas combines gorgeous cell-shaded 3D graphics with an enhanced survival game experience and an intuitive control scheme, to protect Christmas presents against hordes of zombies, skeletons, witches and other monsters.
• Aboveground Systems, in collaboration with ChunkyPixels, today announce Santa’s Shiny Balls Pinball 1.01 for iPhone and iPod touch. This arcade-style pinball game kicks off the holiday season with style. With a total of 4 tables and 3 ball types to choose from, Santa’s Shiny Balls Pinball will have you playing long after the bearded one himself has returned to his northern abode. For both the casual gamer and the veteran pinball player, this game is sure to satisfy.
• Anawiki Games today announced The Perfect Tree, a Christmas-themed Match-3 title. Based on the classic Christmas tale of the same name, the game tells the story of a lonely little pine tree and the player’s efforts to help it become the perfect Christmas tree. The Match-3 portion of the game is fun, relaxing, and highly polished. Levels are completed by making matches over certain target squares, and feature a variety of obstacles and bonuses.
• Saforian, Inc. has released iSantaFarted 1.0 for iPhone and iPod Touch users. The fun little app combines the best of the holiday, incorporating seasonal music, dancing, optional snow and a flatulent Santa. The iSantaFarted app is user-driven. Tapping on Santa gets him dancing and posing in time to the Christmas background music. Tapping on Old Saint Nick a second time has him playing an embarrassing little tune of his own. iSantaFarted is amusing for users of all ages.
• iPhone moms; looking for a fun, educational game that won’t break your budget this holiday season? Look no further than Bacciz’ Match and Learn Holiday Edition [iTunes App Store link]. This app will develop your children’s memory, cognitive, and language skills while they have fun this holiday season.
• Retro Dreamer has released Elf Command 1.0, a brand new free game for iPhone and iPod Touch. Featuring bright and distinctive graphics, great sound and a catchy theme tune, Elf Command puts the player in charge of Santa’s new robotic elves, in a fun time management/line drawing setting. Sort the presents by directing them to the appropriate area of the workshop, and watch as the cute elves carry out your instructions. But be careful, you have to pick the right gifts.
• Broken Thumbs Apps has announced Santa’s Run 1.1, a fun, casual holiday game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This update includes a festive Christmas countdown, multiple gameplay enhancements and other additional features. Players help Santa deliver presents to houses across the globe. Easy to learn, but difficult to master, Santa’s Run features dual game modes, a variety of locations around the world, an innovative strength meter, wind physics, original holiday music and colorful artwork.
• Oceanhouse Media has announced the first series of officially licensed iPhone Apps based on the beloved Dr. Seuss classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Grinchmas, a casual, light-hearted snowball and present-throwing game, is now available in the App Store for $1.99.
• 99Games has announced the release of its brand new game, Christmas Sudoku, for the iPhone. Christmas Sudoku has 9 Christmas goodies replacing the numbers you see in a classic Sudoku game. The game also provides the player with an option to play regular Sudoku in Number mode. An exciting feature of the game is that it supports peer-to-peer network play. Besides this, the game also has a fun section where players can design beautiful post cards and send them to their family and friends.

Greeting Cards

• New - Emails are a boring way of sending your wishes to family and friends. Not any longer; GreetLite—a free iPhone greeting card app—allows you to send cute email greetings in lovely designs, to family and friends. You can even personalize the ecard by scribbling your wishes. Some of the niche iPhone applications developed by Impiger Technologies include MyFeeds, Mardi Gras!, Coffee Studio, Wedding Vendor, Beauty 911, Natural Pet Therapies and Journal Diary.
• Last Christmas, I gave you my heart. This year, a Christmas greeting from my iPhone. It’s quicker, easier and much less painful. Share special Christmas moments among cherished friends and family with a personalized email greeting using Christmas Greeting Cards from Equinux.
• Oceanhouse Media has announced the first series of officially licensed iPhone Apps based on the beloved Dr. Seuss classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Dr. Seuss Camera - The Grinch Edition, is a unique and whimsical greeting card maker now available for only $2.99.
• Thirtynine LLC has introduced Christmasfy Me 1.0, their free greeting card utility for iPhone and iPod Touch. Just in time for the holidays, Christmasfy Me lets anyone christmasfy their picture by adding cute Christmas elements. When done, users can share their new Christmasfied picture via email, on Facebook or on Twitter. Christmasfy Me ships with 3 elements and with its built-in in-app purchase, users can unlock all other 37 elements.

Shopping Assistants / Gift Ideas

• New - Sinecure Industries today releases Holiday Advice 1.0 for the holidays. Drawing from a pool of over 100 individual pieces of advice written exclusively for this app, Holiday Advice has you covered! Everything from gift giving, family matters, entertaining and even food, Holiday Advice has all the holiday help you could ever need in one app. Should you not like that piece of advice, simply give Holiday Advice a shake and receive a new piece of advice.
• VerySoftware has announced Christmas Gift Finder 1.0, their free Christmas app for the iPhone and iPod touch. Christmas Gift Finder helps find the perfect gifts for your family, friends and colleagues this Christmas and New Year. You can save up to 1/3 on gifts when using our app. Bookmark gifts you like. If you cannot decide which gift to buy from our vast choice, you can add it to bookmarks. Once you are ready to purchase, it’s always there.
• Hey Santa is a quirky app that suggests Christmas gifts based on budget and taste for three age groups. There are almost 2,000 original fun gift ideas, so there is something for everyone. The app lets you change settings, create a list, add items and email them.

Christmas Novelties

• New - For this festival season, Punflay presents the gingerbread man, fresh out of the pan for you. Give Jinjee (as they call him) a sticky coating and some sugary frosting. Add a few gum drop buttons that will have him smiling. Once Jinjee is ready, choose from a fun selection of wallpapers, record a greeting, and send your creation to family and friends. Do you want to let someone know you miss them this holiday season? Or pass on a smile and some love? Then Jinjee is the man (or the woman) for the job!
• Oneapp has introduced Pull Santa’s Finger 1.0 for iPhone and iPod touch. For all users who love to pull pranks over the holidays, here is the app for you. Pull Santa’s Finger is the holidays twist to the company’s successful application Pull This Finger. This application features two modes with custom graphics for Santa and the Grinch, including classic fart sounds activated by pulling the finger, a signature re-mastered fart version of the classic holiday song, Jingle Bells, and much more.
• Shiny Development has announced the release of new festive balloons for its popular Balloons! iPhone app. With over 100,000 virtual balloons launched since November, the application continues to go from strength to strength connecting people around the world. Even Santa is now launching balloons from his home near the North Pole! Who will be lucky enough to catch them?
• Electric Pocket has released FestiveTones—a holiday version of its MailTones app for iPhone—so now you can set certain holiday tones to play when specific people send you emails. The collection of alert tones include sleigh bells, brass bands and carols.
• Oceanhouse Media has announced the very first e-Book version of the beloved Dr. Seuss Classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Now available on the App Store, the How the Grinch Stole Christmas! e-Book is selling for a promotional price of $3.99 and includes such new features as professional narration, background audio and enlarged artwork for each scene. To promote reading in young children, individual words are highlighted as the story is read and words zoom up when pictures are touched. By combining the original text and artwork of Dr. Seuss with features that entertain and promote reading, the e-book appeals to readers of all ages.
• iCelebrate ~ Christmas is an application for the holiday season that pairs vibrant, animating yuletide scenery and the very best of streaming Internet holiday radio stations. The set-up is simple: choose a holiday music genre (modern, traditional, etc), choose a holiday scene to pair with the music (Yule log, candles and ornaments, white Christmas, twinkling Christmas trees, and, at last, a snow globe with a friendly snowman), and then press play! Candles will flicker, stars will shimmer, lights will twinkle, and stockings will sway over a brilliant fireplace—all to the beat of the music!
• Apps Mobilis has introduced The Night Before Christmas, a timeless yuletide poem for children and their new animated audiobook for iPhone and iPod Touch. Designed specifically to leverage the iPhone’s unique abilities and peerless interface, The Night Before Christmas is a Moving Audio book based on the classic children’s poem by Clement C. Moore. It features beautifully illustrated, narrated stories, and offers a compelling way to keep young children engaged.
• Ustwo has created the world’s first animated snowdome soundboard: Crazo. Crazo is a present downloaded directly from Santa’s grotto. It’s the holy grail of the craziest sounds ever created for iPhone, and is a present that will just keep on giving.
• Talee Talee has announced MyChristmas 2.0, a festive Christmas compendium which encompasses many individual apps into one beautiful and fun app for iPhone and iPod Touch users. Send and receive a Christmas greetings card, play games, multiple sleeps to Christmas countdowns, a Christmas carol eBook, Christmas carols, music tracks, and much more. Produced for all the family, MyChristmas will entertain from ages 4 onwards and has been tested accordingly.
• WebbForce Mobz has announced SantaVoice and ElfVoice, two xmas fun voice gadgets for the iphone. Record your voice and the app will transform it to a funny santa voice or a elf voice. Then play it back to impress your friends, family and collegues. The santa and elf voices are jolly and warm, charming and engaging and funny. You can almost see the twinkle in the eyes, smell the evergreen tree, taste the cookies and milk, and hear the fireplace crackling, etc.