MySpace has jumped on the iPhone bandwagon, yesterday unveiling an application that delivers a mobile version of the social network to Apple's hugely popular smartphone.

The application is available as a free download from Apple's iTunes store and the new iPhone App Store. According to John Faith, general manager and vice president for MySpace's mobile division, it is a major improvement over the site's existing mobile offerings.

"I really and truly can say that this has raised the bar of the MySpace mobile experience," Faith told reporters during a conference call this morning. "It provides the most robust feature set that any MySpace mobile product has provided to date."

The announcement from News Corp.'s social networking player comes amid growing interest across the tech industry in bringing computing applications to mobile devices. That excitement has been fueled most recently by Apple's iPhone, seen by many as a breakthrough device that could pave the way for other sophisticated handsets that will finally deliver on the promise of the mobile Web.

MySpace's iPhone application arrived on the eve of the arrival of the phone's 3G version in stores, an event expected to draw rabid crowds and considerable fanfare today.

Research firm ChangeWave is expecting the new device to have a "tsunami-like impact" on the smartphone market.

In addition to revamping the iPhone, Apple also has been working to drum up support from developers for the platform. It opened the iPhone to third-party developers in March, a move that has since spawned several hundred applications, an Apple spokeswoman said in an e-mail to InternetNews.com.

The new MySpace app will enable iPhone users to search the network and add friends, compose and delete mail, and send bulletin blasts to all their friends. It will also offer the ability to upload and share pictures. MySpace Mobile does support music, and, unlike rival Facebook's mobile site, users cannot upload and play videos.

Citing personal security reasons, Faith said that MySpace is not including any GPS or location-based features into the application. He did not rule them out in future iterations, however.

Upon launch, the application will not be open to third-party developers, but Faith suggested that that too could change down the road.

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