Touchscreen phone users are discovering that much of the fun in their devices stems from applications -- those little nuggets of convenience, amusement and distraction available for download on the slightest whim.

A good example is Google Inc's newly updated Mobile App for Apple Inc's iPhone, which has been generating a lot of buzz for one main reason: voice search.

Want to find the nearest pizza place, showtimes for the James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace," or the latest Bruce Springsteen video? Google voice search is uncannily accurate.

But it has obvious limitations, particularly with names. Say "Barack Obama" and you get a full page of data. Try "Emile Zatopek," the famed Czech distance runner? Forget about it.

Of course, there are many applications available for download on all sorts of mobile phones, but touchscreen devices have emerged as consumer favorites.

While the mobile app race is still in its infancy, the iPhone is already well ahead of rivals such as Research in Motion Ltd's BlackBerry and T-Mobile's G1, which features Google's Android operating system.

But competition is going to get more intense. RIM's touch-screen Storm was launched last week, although its app store won't open until next year. The Android app store opened for business last month but so far hasn't generated nearly the momentum of the iPhone app store, which went live in July.

In the first two months, iPhone users downloaded 100 million apps, choosing from among thousands of options. The programs, the vast majority offered by third-party developers under the watchful eye of Apple, run the gamut from utterly frivolous time-wasters to the surprisingly useful.

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