By Sam Oliver
Published: 01:40 PM EST (10:40 AM PST)
At this week's Worldwide Developers Conference, the winners of the 2011 Apple Design Awards were announced, representing some of the best software available for the iPhone, iPad and Mac.
The official ceremony was held Tuesday evening, and developers were recognized for software that demonstrates exceptional quality in the areas of design, innovation and technical excellence. In addition to iPhone, iPad and Mac, awards were also given out in a "Student" category. A total of 12 titles were recognized.
While last year, Apple limited its awards to iOS titles without any inclusion of Macs, this year Mac applications were
recognized once again. However, all software for the iPhone, iPad and Mac had a requirement of being available on the platforms' respective App Stores.
This year's iPhone winners were
Golfscape GPS,
Infinity Blade, and
Cut the Rope, a game that was featured live onstage during Monday's WWDC keynote as the new iMessage application was demonstrated.
For iPad,
djay,
Osmos, and the interactive book from former U.S. Vice President Al Gore,
Our Choice, took top honors. Mac winners were
Anomaly Warzone Earth,
Capo, and
Pixelmator.
Finally, the Student category was represented solely by iOS offerings:
Grades 2 for iPhone, and
Pulse News and
Pennant for iPad.
Infinity Blade from Chair Entertainment and Epic Games was named a top iPhone app
Last year, only 10 total applications were honored in the
iOS-only awards, with winners ranging from "TabToolkit" to "Flight Control HD" to "Star Walk for iPad." Nominations for the annual awards are accepted through Apple's website by members of the company's developer programs.
Ironically, one of last year's winners, the
Financial Times, just announced a new
Web application designed to bypass Apple's officially sanctioned App Store. By offering its product in HTML5 through the Safari Web browser, the publication will be able to avoid paying Apple a 30 percent cut of revenue for subscriptions through the App Store.
