Microsoft has announced on Monday that it has released its first application built specifically for Apple's iPhone. The app is called Seadragon and it allows users to browse high-resolution images, according to information provided by Microsoft. The application is optimized for use over 3G and Wi-Fi networks. Furthermore, Seadragon also allows users to explore Photosynth collections on the iPhone. Photosynth is a Microsoft technology that lets users stitch digital photos together into a 3D panorama. But the innovations do not stop here. Microsoft also incorporated the ability to view PhotoZoom and Deep Zoom Composer content too. If anyone wonders why Microsoft has decided to develop an app for Apple, it's the power of the iPhone that attracted the company to the platform, even if Microsoft also has its own mobile platform.

Most of the phones out today don't have accelerated graphics in them. However, the iPhone does and so it enabled us to do something that has been previously difficult to do. This application has been developed by Microsoft Live Labs and the company posted a video of Seadragon on its Web site. For interested users, the application is free for download from the App Store. The Seadragon renders documents as little thumbnails, and a double-tap brings it into focus. A reverse pinch on the iPhone's touch screen in the Deep Zoom reveals the photo in sharp detail. For the iPhone, Seadragon comes preloaded with bookmarks that deliver content from organizations such as the U.S. Geological Survey for photos. Nearly all of the 16 comments about Seadragon on Apple's App Store were positive. However, some of the users were still wondering why Microsoft wrote an applications fors its competitor's platform.

Microsoft has yet to announce when Seadragon is available on other mobile devices or OSs, including its own Windows Mobile. It is interesting to see that Microsoft is also planning to release a voice-recognition application for the iPhone next year, so it looks like the company's efforts for its rivals won't stop here. As for the Photosynth feature, Microsoft representatives said that this broke right after the app was uploaded to the App Store. However, the company has already developed a fix. It's pretty clear why Microsoft did not release this app for its Windows Mobile. As previously mentioned, most smartphones don't have the accelerated graphics to run the software. This is another astonishing day in this app field, as more and more applications are uploaded onto the App Store by a large variety of people. Today, it was Microsoft that did this.