Finally getting in on the mobile device application game, Microsoft Corp. recently announced that it had developed an image-browsing application for the Apple (News - Alert) iPhone.

 

The software giant said in a blog entry over the weekend that its application, “Seadragon Mobile,” brings the same image browsing to a mobile platform that users get from a PC.

 

“Get super-close in on a map or photo, with just a few pinches or taps of your finger. Browse an entire collection of photos from a single screen,” Microsoft’s (News - Alert) Live Labs team says on the company blog. “You can browse Deep Zoom Images that you can create from your own pictures or your Photosynth collection (or anybody else’s).”

 

Those who have tried the app say they were impressed.

 

According to Larry Larsen of Channel 10, a Web site for technology enthusiasts, the Seadragon app allows usres to brows several connections and also load custom content through a RSS feed.

 

“If you want to take the easy way out just upload your massive images to Photosynth or PhotoZoom,” Larsen said. “Seadragon Mobile isn't a Photosynth viewer, per se. It shows all the photos in a synth in flat tiled form, allowing you to zoom in and out effortlessly. So in this instance you use Photosynth like a container.”

 

As TMCnet has reported, mobile device insiders such as Mobui Corporation’s John Burry say that the future of such applications probably lies in location-based social networking services. It isn’t hard to imagine how a solid image-browsing application fits into that vision.

 

“The mobile device has and always will be ultimately about communication,” Burry told TMCnet in an interview. “These days, communication goes way beyond voice into texting, video exchange, and instant messaging. Expect most of the innovation that happens in mobile to be around finding ways to make it easier for people to connect with one another, especially through social networks.”

 

Microsoft’s new Seadragon app is available for free at the iTunes App Store.