Possibly the best iPhone Web app yet: vtap trumps built-in iPhone YouTube app

It's a bold statement to be sure, but we think we've found the coolest Web app yet for the iPhone. Dubbed "vtap," the service lets you search for videos from around the Internet, then -- get this -- encodes them on the fly and puts them in a format that can be played on the iPhone (H.264). vtap searches YouTube, MySpace, Dailymotion, news sites like the Associated Press and Reuters, even ESPN. (Think SeeqPod but for videos)

In other words, it's not constrained by the lack of Flash, Windows Media Player, etc. support on the iPhone. Virtually any video that can be found on the Web can now be played in the iPhone's native QuickTime player thanks to on-the-fly encoding.

The interface is slick and fast, and there are some great touches. For instance, while the service is encoding a video on the fly, vtap will show you an RSS feed of recent news to keep you entertained. Because of its breadth and functionality, this Web-based app puts Apple's native YouTube iPhone application to shame.

Navigate to http://www.vtap.com on your iPhone to give it a shot. You might just agree with our assessment.