Top 9 iPhone apps to use for business when you're on the go
1)Dropbox
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If you follow me anywhere, I always harp on and on about how much I love Dropbox … mainly because it saves my life on a daily basis. I would be chained to my laptop or iPad if I couldn’t have this application on my phone for free. I even tweet about it on my twitter account … you know you love it. Dropbox lets you store documents (excel or otherwise) and presentations in your account. It also syncs automatically if you’re using it on your desktop or via the web, so your documents will never be in one place and not the other. You can also share/send your files through email, or export your files to other applications on your iPhone or iPad.
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If you’re really heavy into documents (I work in excel all day long) then you’ll really appreciate this app.
2)Line2
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Line2 solves a lot of problems, business wise. It’s currently free to download in the iTunes directory, and there are different service prices available. Line2 allows you to use VOIP to make calls and send text messages, and provides you with a second line phone number so you won’t have clients calling your personal line. It’s currently the only Dual-Mode app for iOS devices that allows you inbound and outbound calling with a separate number.
Line2 also has the ability to alternate (on its own) between WiFi and 3G depending on where you are and what’s available without dropping the call. If you get a new phone call coming in on your regular iPhone line, Line2 gives you the option to switch to the call or ignore it, without dropping your other call.
If you’re not in the office, and don’t want to share your personal number on your business card with clients, or people you meet at conferences, Line2 is pretty awesome. It truly allows you to be mobile if you’re a client-oriented business with lots of calls or consulting.
3)Awesome Note (there is also a lite version)
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So, I have a problem. I try every single productivity and task organizer out there -- no joke. And this isn’t limited to just my iPhone. With that said, I ended up trying the lite version of Awesome Note and wanted more. I ended up getting the full version: it’s only $3.99 (I only had to give up a latte to get it … ha). Awesome Note is not only visually pleasing, but it has a lot of features as well. Everything from to-do notes, alarms, calendar view, complete sync with Google Docs and Evernote (another amazing app that I’ll be mentioning below), customizable notes and themes, password protection, and much more.
You can also email notes from the application, do quick text and handwriting memos, transfer notes over Bluetooth, and conduct a back-up via wifi. This is pretty much an all in one package. As far as I know, there isn’t a web version of this, it exists solely on the iPhone/iPod and iPad.
4)Netsuite
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The Netsuite app for iPhone/iPod/iPad is pretty awesome, especially if you’re managing your financial data, customer data etc. with the Netsuite CRM. The dashboard has various features, such as Key Performance Indicators, KPI Scorecard, Report snapshots (you can see all these in the image so I’ll spare you in repeating all of them), and lets you see percentage increases/decreases in your financial data.
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Your calendar is also manageable within the Netsuite app. You can accept and decline events, and mark your tasks as complete when finished. The app also fully integrates with your phone, email maps and web. You’ll have to sign up to use the Netsuite products, but the app is free to download.
5)Midnight Inbox
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Midnight Inbox is the mecca of all organization-ness. I use Awesome Note more, only because Midnight Inbox has a lot of functionality that I don’t need (but would be excellent for others). It’s currently only on Mac machines and the iPad, but an iPhone version is coming. I’m interested in seeing how the iPhone version turns out because they did a beautiful job on the iPad one. It totally blows the desktop version out of the water.
Midnight inbox lets you organize and control what you’re doing productively, and it has areas where you can put notes on the backburner or for review. You can move things from your notes to your “inbox” for immediate tasking. You really have to try it to understand the magnitude or organization this can give you.
This also syncs directly with your desktop version as well as iCal.
This is $14.99 from the iTunes store. I started using it after I bought the desktop version so I’m not sure if the price is reflective of the full complete price.
6)Meebo
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Seeing as I work in Google Apps all day long, I constantly need to be connected to Google Talk when working. There hasn’t been a better app for my iPhone to use Google Talk with. The nice thing about Meebo is:
1) It’s free.
2) It has the ability to sync up with other messaging programs, such as Windows Live messenger, Yahoo!, IM, etc.
3) It has a nice interface and the ability to sign in on more than one account at a time.
4) You can stay signed in and receive messages after you close the program (though I believe this is only an iPhone 4 multi-tasking feature).
7)Evernote
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Evernote is (surprise surprise) another one of my favorites. I wasn’t kidding you when I said I used a lot of these organization apps. The nice thing about Evernote is that it also syncs across the desktop version, the web version, as well as your iPhone/iPod/iPad. With Evernote, you can create text and audio notes, and search for text within any snapshots you take. Notes can include geo-location information for easy referencing. You can also mark notes as favorites so you don’t have to search through all your notes to find one thing. You can keep different notebooks, so if you’re searching for inspiration for blogs, you can keep them separate depending on which site you’re managing.
Web clips is nice too. You can snag any image from a site and store it within Evernote. If you’re a freelance designer working out of the office, this comes in handy because you can save any kind of interesting layouts that you see, and reference them while working on your computer.
8)Credit Card Machine
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I generally don’t take payments from people, via credit card or on the go (publicly anyway … just kidding). But Credit Card Machine is a free iPhone application (there are monthly fees for transactions) that allows you to do just that. So if you work in an office environment where you would normally be taking product payments, you now have the ability to be (gasp) away from your desk while working.
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Credit Card Machine lets you manually enter in credit card information (as you can see in the image above) or you can get a secure magnetic reader that allows you to swipe the credit cards. You can be like those guys in the Apple store that let you swipe and pay. Aside from its obvious abilities, it’s encrypted and secure (secure SSL connection); there's a touch screen on the receipt page; there's a GPS transaction locator (I can only imagine the benefit this adds); you have the ability to access your account fully online; and there are databases for consumer and product information.
There’s a lot more information for this app, and it’s probably best to check out the website so you can fully understand the fees and transactions concurrent with using it.
9)mbPointer
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If you travel a lot and depend on giving presentations for your career, mbPointer ($2.99) allows you to completely control your PowerPoint presentations without investing in an expensive controller/pointer. I personally hate PowerPoint with a passion, so I won’t be trying this. However, it has a lot of controls such as adding annotations using the pen, multi-touch support, two finder tap for right click, and two finger slide for vertical scrolling.
It supports most of the PowerPoint slide show shortcut keys, but please note that you need WiFi to run it.
So I think I’ve presented a pretty good list here. Obviously there are about 10 billion apps out there, but I’ve chosen ones that seem to have a good amount of features, good reviews, and are useful to you if you’re working outside of the office, freelancing or working independently. Anything I’ve missed? Or do you have any comments about the apps I listed?
Main Image: http://www.sfondissimo.com
