Apparently, the Toronto Raptor's Chris Bosh (aka CB4) has become the first athlete to design an application for Apple's App Store.

I did a bit of a double take upon first reading that sentence, on the basis that it just seemed... well, strange. Personally, I'm used to my athletes spouting "give it your all" mantras, and not coding in C, so forgive my surprise. Yet, it seems that Bosh is actually more of a technologically inclined player than you might expect.

The Toronto Raptors fan-favourite appears to be trying to capitalize upon the vast success of Apple's app store by releasing his own Chris Bosh-themed application. Users can currently download the app to either their iPhone or iTouch, in what will probably be a boon to social media junkies enamored with the Toronto basketball star. Bosh's own Twitter, Flickr and YouTube feeds are piped into the application's interface, along with up to date stats on the Raptor player's performance.

But if you know a thing or two about developing for platforms like the iPhone, you'd know this sort of application really isn't anything special. Extremely talented musical acts like Soulja Boy and the Pussycat Dolls have used similar applications to give fans and users a decidedly shallow one-stop portal for all their latest info and updates. Bosh's app seems to follow a similar trend, in a way that comes off as more promotional gimmick than innovative app.

Not to single out Bosh, but these sort of applications seem to be growing in popularity amongst developers looking to advertise their product or name in supposedly new and exciting ways. I doubt you would ever download a Bosh-themed computer app, when you could simply load up your own Twitter client, or web browser of choice. I'd imagine the same applies for platforms like the iPhone, where portals for Twitter and Flickr have already existed for quite some time.

At the very least, the application is free, so you won't be wasting any money on downloading it. The app's only saving grace in my mind is the ability to display Bosh's latest game stats. But once again, unless you're an absolute Bosh fanatic, there's a myriad of other available apps that provide updates, not just on Bosh, but the entire Raptors roster.

It's admirable that Bosh wants to try to find other ways to connect with fans, and put more of a human face on his all-star persona. But as much as I like Bosh, at the end of the day, if what you're offering is no different than anyone else, being the first app-store athlete means nothing.