The NBA has officially arrived on the iPhone!  NBA has released an iPhone app that allows users to stream live NBA games to their iPhone.  That means users can watch live NBA games wherever they have a 3G or Wi-Fi connection.

NBA League Pass Mobile will set you back $39.99.  But buyers can get over 40 live games per week for the 2009-10 regular season.  It even works over 3G connection.  NBA Pass Mobile also features live stats and scores.  Anytime you want to know the stats for a particular player in the game, just tap the view stats button and that information will be available.  It is a must-own app for the hard core basketball fan!

However, there are some serious limitations for the NBA League Pass Mobile.  App buyers will not be able to watch local games on their iPhone due to blackout rules.  The app actually uses GPS to detect your location to determine blackout games.  Thus if you are only interested in your hometown team, this may not be that special basketball app for you.  Furthermore, the app is restricted to the 2009-10 regular season.  So don’t expect to watch the playoff games with this app.

Another limitation for the NBA League Pass Mobile is the lower quality streams over 3G. Your favorite carrier, AT&T, will determine the bit-rate and quality you can stream over their 3G network.  Some users are also complaining that subscribers of NBA League Pass Broadband don’t get a freebie or even a  discount to the iPhone app.   Hopefully, NBA will realize this and deliver a solution for Broadband Pass subscribers.

NBA League Pass Mobile is that magical app for basketball junkies.  Some limitations such as blackout games are making this app less useful than it is supposed to be.  Hopefully more live TV apps and solutions such as Eye-TV will pop up in the near future to help NBA fans watch their local games on their iPhone, wherever they are.