Are the 3rd party apps available yet ?

The deadline for contest entries is aug 29th

I think sprint is being smart about this... since there are other smart phones out there that can share a lot of the existing apps, they put this contest up to make instinct UI specific apps so it makes the instinct (in time) more valuble. They will fix the keyboard problem so you can use the already existing apps, but probably not until this contest is over so like I said, they will have very nice, instinct only apps, that will make other smart-phone users want to switch so they can use the same apps they have now, plus the instinct only ones. this is just my speculatin by the way

Regarding the 2 posts above me. I feel you're both correct to a point.Yes ,they want Instict specific apps that out perform it's competitors and they are banking on this phone(as well as co. restructuring) to make up for lost subscribers. I for one would like to have 5 minutes on the mat with that dork from Verizon. I don't work for Sprint or get anything in return from them. But my expeirence with them has been no different than any other huge corporation. We all have to deal with big biz,it's just a fact of life in the modern world. Not everybody will be satisfied. Not gonna happen.And to anybody who is on the fence,guess what...my macvangelist buddy has had to hard reset his new 3g at least  4 times since he got it,and it takes about 2+ hours to do it. Our devices are only as perfect as we are.

http://developer.sprint.com/show_thread.do;jsessionid=bacZBTg_b13IIeQq1S3Vr?forumId=378&searchBy2=MSG_PARENT_ID&searchValue2=-1&searchBy3=MSGFORUM_FORUMID&searchValue3=378&ps=10&pn=1&threadid=26227&sortDirection=0&sortCol=MSG_AUDIT_CREATE_DT

hopefully there are some good things cooking in the developer contest for sprint

http://developer.sprint.com/instinct/

We don't really know anything more than that.  I hope that at least some of the apps will be free, but I imagine for the better ones we will have to pay for.

As far as what's being submitted..  No one really knows.  No one has mentioned anything in fear of their idea being stolen. 

I hope we see a lot of apps; with prizes like that it could very well be worth time spent.  I'm pretty sure we'll see at least what people on this forum have been asking for.  (Office like programs, Aim, etc...)  I think it's going to get interesting

There are dev's on the site. They're laying low until the contest is over. With 25k on the line nobody is tipping their hand for fear of being copied. Also, there was not alot going on with Uncle Steve's offering with their first gen until the sdk was released, and they really didn't have jack until they had their os update. The apps will come. If another company's offering intrests you, I encourage you to get it. I for one am very pleased with this phone and am going to ride this wave all the way to the beach.