The other day I was contacted by Barry, a developer who enjoys working on iPhone apps in his spare time. So far he’s worked on two that are explicitly LotRO–related. Both look like they’ve come together very well.
The first is called LotROStatus and has aleady been approved by Apple. It is now available on the iTunes store, but you can also see a preview on Barry’s site, BAMsoft. As you may have guessed, LotROStatus shows you the current status of all the US LotRO servers. If you’re European and feel left out, Barry is considered adding status for your servers as well if there’s enough interest. Best of all, this app is free.
The second is called LotROChar and I think it’s especially exciting. You can view a preview of it on BAMsoft now, but it’s currently awaiting approval by Apple. It displays character information, including level and equipment. It even looks to handle Lorebook links.
I do not have an iPhone, but I’m hoping to get to test out LotROStatus myself soon. Both apps look great (Barry’s wife handles the graphic work) and offer great utility, I think. It’s nice to see such an excellent implementation of the XML data Turbine finally decided to share, especially one that can be taken anywhere.
Be sure to check these out if you have an iPhone! There’s more screens on Barry’s site if you’re curious, by the way.
Now if only I could handle my in-game auctions and mail on the go .… Yes, I know it’s never going to happen. 
Yup it is nice to see the XML stuff being used like this, I know Turbine have plans to develop the data being supplied further and given some of what I’ve read we may one day see data like mail and auctions… I certainly hope we do!
[…] making use of LotRO’s XML data Tony from the Lord of the Rings Online-focused blog MMeOw recently had a look at a couple of iPhone Apps that are taking advantage of the XML data that Turbine has made available. Both apps were developed […]