The vitals:

1. I’m running version 5A345 of the iPhone 2.0 software.
2. I’m running it on a 16GB iPhone 3G that I purchased on launch day.
3. I’ve downloaded every application from the App Store on my iPhone, not through iTunes.
4. The problem persists ONLY with non-native (as in downloaded from the App Store) applications.  All the applications that shipped with the iPhone 2.0 software are unaffected.

Here’s what’s happening:

1. I sync the iPhone 3G to add songs, movies, whatever.
2. When the sync/charge is complete, I’ll disconnect the phone and go about my day.
3. So I’ll be out and about, and all of a sudden need to do something with an Application I downloaded from the App Store.
4. I’ll tap what I want to use and then the App will launch…
5. … but then promptly quit, returning me to the home screen.
6. I say “f*ck it” and find the closest bar and have a beer.

There are a few steps that I’ve taken to remedy this unfortunate situation:

1. I plugged my iPhone 3G in to my Mac and launched iTunes.
2. I clicked the big, ugly “Restore” button and downloaded the latest and greatest iPhone 2.0 build.
3. I prayed to the Flying Spaghetti Monster that this would work.
4. I started a sync of my music, Safari bookmarks and videos.

So here I am… tapped out from praying to his noodly greatness waiting to sync all of my music to the phone.  I’ll edit the post if this works with the good news!