I've just returned from another trip to St Petersburg which, as always, was simply fantastic. I've seen many of the typical tourist sites now with the help of a Lonely Planet guide on my original trip but I'm now finding it more appealing to visit local cafes or bars and experience the places that the residents enjoy. Here in the UK, I could take a look at Foursquare for tips or even use Yelp's augmented reality app, Monocle, to guide me to the best places. However, I'm too scared to turn on the web on my iPhone. I've been stung by O2 before as I've accessed data oversees only to be greeted by a huge telephone bill on my return.

While hype around augmented reality or AR has grown over the last year thanks to the innovative work of companies such as Total Immersion, I don't believe that the true potential of this technology for exploring new locations will ever be realised until we can freely access the information overseas. 

The two killer apps I remember seeing a couple of years ago as AR began to appear were location-based guidance or tour guides that directed you to attractions while providing you further information and language translation. Both of these are only really of use in foreign countries and I can only imagine how expensive it would be to download the wealth of data needed by an AR app.

Of course, they'll be other applications for this technology, some will be marketing led while others will prove genuinely useful. Sadly we're going to have to wait for the mobile phone operators to get their act together on reducing overseas data costs before we can travel and use this innovative technology on our mobile devices without fear.

Last week, Apple threw open the iPhone to developers, allowing them to create applications for the portable device. You can see the full presentation here.

The initial apps demoed at the event were impressive, expanding the useage of the phone/music player/web browser while targeting a variety of new audiences such as gamers (Super Monkey Ball), online socialites (AIM) and businesses (SalesForce).

So far the iPhone has led to a huge increase in mobile web browsing and it’s likely that the launch of apps in June will have a similar result.

We’ve already witnessed an explosion of Facebook applications (yes, we’re all a little tired of being bitten by our Vampire friends), but will we see big brands jumping on this opportunity and investing in the development of iPhone apps?

Based on the social media philosophy of always ensuring brand content created is either useful or entertaining, what better way is there to get a client into the pockets of consumers than with a high quality game or piece of software that actually assists them in their daily activities?

We’ve already witnessed brands developing content such as Cadillac’s Xbox 360 game or the IFA search engine from unbiased.co.uk and with the iPhone reaching out to new audiences, we look forward to an increase in brand-based applications specifically designed to be carried around 24 hours a day.