Cheers to BMW for taking a great television commercial (for the Z4 Roadster) and converting it into a great iPhone app. First, BMW scores credit for making more than just a driving game (yawn). Instead of simply racing (sorry, Audi), the game has you test drive a BMW on a giant canvas, with paint on your wheels, ultimately creating something you can show off or pass along to a friend. It's a pretty sharp play on the campaign tagline, "an expression of joy." 

 

Typically, I eschew apps that use tilting as part of game play or navigation, but it actually works really well for the Z4 app. Consider this. If this game were simply a game you played at a website, using arrows to steer the car, it would get boring pretty fast.  In that respect, I'd say this is a uniquely iPhone experience. 

 

On the downside, load times are pretty slow (but I'm not sure if that's just my phone). Also, it would have been nice if they made it easier to pass your creations on to friends (as it is, the app saves the art to your iPhone's photo gallery, where of course you can email-to-a-friend).

 

Still, on balance, this is my favorite branded iPhone app of 2009 (so far).