Although iManila is not the first iPhone application that has some local Filipino flavor to it, it is nonetheless the first application (that I know of) which operates locally to provide its services. iManila is a directory listing of various establishments – restaurants, shops, cinemas etc. Think of its as a toned down version of your PLDT Yellow Pages that sits right smack on your iPhone apps screen.Basically iManila lets you:

• Search by establishment name that can be location-specific
• Save search results directly to your address book
• Call the number from your iPhone
• Bookmark the specific search results

The directory is currently limited to Metro Manila establishments only as well as some parts of Cebu. And it doesn’t cover listings for Movies and Theaters as well as location awareness utilizing the iPhone’s GPS feature.

iManila’s data comes from here.

While there may still be some minor kinks with iManila (for example displaying search not found message instead of a blank page would have been better), it is a pretty promising application and should be supported by all Filipino iPhone users. It is very seldom that we encounter such Filipino-centric iPhone apps.

And yes, nothing could be better than seeing the Philippine flag as the iManila’s icon at the Apps Store.

You can download the iManila iPhone apps at the Apps Store. Just check out your iTunes. It is currently listed as the number 1 paid apps. You won’t miss it.