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20 iPhone Apps that could improve your business
With SmartPhones quickly becoming a "must have" business tool, we take you through the iPhone applications that enable you to monitor and improve your business whilst on the move.
Essential for updating and commenting on your personal/industry blog, WordPress is the only iPhone application that lets you write posts, upload photos, edit pages and share ideas with colleagues and business partners. The application can also be used on iPods.
By setting up an account on Istapaper.com, this application allows you to send articles directly to your phone, keeping you informed as you travel. Allegedly, it took developer Marco Arment more than 100 hours to create the application, but its simplicity allows users to access worldwide news in seconds. When you find an attention-worthy news story on your computer at work, you simply click a button and the news story is sent to you iPhone enabling you to read it at your leisure.
The most popular website in the world would be remiss not to have a iPhone application, especially when it's also the world's most used search engine, hence the Google Mobile application. It does exactly what you'd expect it to do and more, such as analyses the item you're searching for and compares it to your online Favourites as well as your phone book to find the perfect match. It, of course, also links to their other services such as Gmail, Blogger, Google Docs and YouTube making it an invaluable application.
The popular online application that allows people to make cheap voice calls over the Internet, unsurprisingly has an application. Allowing free Skype-to-Skype calls, decent rates for standard calls as well as instant messaging, the Skype application is a great, and cheap, way to keep in contact with clients, friends and family. Unsurprisingly, some network operators do not allow Skype calls to be made from their 3G, meaning users have to connect to a Wi-Fi to make Skype calls.
Have the memory of a goldfish? Need to remember something for later? Don't have a pen and paper to write down a new telephone number or other details? Never fear, Jott is here. Transcribing voice memos into text and filling it for future reference, Jott is ideal for those short, often forgotten, reminders. Simply tap the screen and speak into the phone for up to 15 seconds. Simple.One gripe of iPhone users has always been the difficulty of using the standard keyboard to type messages and emails. However WritingPad allows you to type on a virtual keyboard, drag your finger across the screen to spell words. A bit awkward at first, the application can quickly become an invaluable resource.
Utilising the GPS chip in your phone, the Associated Press's news-on-demand application delivers you the latest news wherever you are. Arguably one of the most comprehensive on the market, the application allows to sort your news, business and sports articles by most recent or most read. News can be sent via email or text to colleagues, saved to a news archive or, if you're in a network black zone, read offline.
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After a long wait by Mindmeister fans, the application finally debuted on the Apple store last week. Mindmeister allows you to create, view, and edit your own mind maps online and offline. It seamlessly syncs with its web-based mind mapping software and maps can be shared with collegues, embedded onto blogs at the touch of a button.
A simple, easy-to-use 'to do list', Toodledo is an essentially application for staying productive and keeping on top of your daily tasks. Filled with folders, due dates, priority alarms, tags, contexts, goals, notes and time estimates (perfect for GTD ninjas), it allows you prioritise jobs and tasks to make sure nothing is forgotten. With a slick drag-and-drop interface, Toodledo gives managers everything they need to make sure they get everything done to the best of their ability.
Who doesn't have Google Analytics installed on their website? Allowing you to view web traffic hits, bounce rate, time on site on the go, this amazing app is a must for any web-based business. Want to become even more productive? See how many leads you got today? What keywords were hot this month? What content brought in the most conversions? it's an essential app for Web Entrepreneurs.
Got a meeting today that you really don't want to go to? Need an excuse to get out of the office early? Then FakeCall is for you. By simply creating a false contact, you can program your phone to call you on demand allowing for a sharp exit. Or, if you prefer, seeing the looks of astonishment on your colleagues faces as you show them that 'Bill Gates' is calling you.
Allowing you to use your iPhone as a portable storage device, the Air Sharing application allows to you wirelessly drag and drop any and all documents you wish to take with you, from your computer (PC or Mac) to your iPhone. Advertised as the "easiest way to take your documents with you and view them on the go", Air Sharing is ideal for storing documents and files needed for meetings or work trips.
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Often amusingly inaccurate, Wikipedia is still the No.1 resource on the web for quickly learning about something or searching for particular references. Saving time by searching whilst you type, Wikipanion is the best of the many Wiki-apps that are out there. There is also an upgrade if you're willing to pay, Wikipanion Plus gives you the choice of saving articles as well as doing offline browsing.
Work keeping you from hitting the gym as often as you'd like? Then get your own personal trainer with the iFitness application. Clean, simple and easy to use, the application allows you to browse by muscle groups and then selects specific exercises for you to do. The application also allows you to add and edit custom exercises. The My Workout section will also display your custom workout, which you can build up over time, by adding more exercises from the tutorials.
Colloquy, the best IRC client for Macintosh OS X, can be now accessed in the palm of your hand. Built atop the Chat Core framework, Colloquy Mobile is a full featured client optimized for the on-the-go experience. It also comes with a built-in browser for clicked links and commands for quick Google, Wikipedia and Amazon searches. Access #Freenode on the go...
Depending on your style on management, both these legendary Chinese philosophers have insights in how to run your business. Both these applications give you quotes that could inspire you in your daily decision making process.
To quote Confucius; "He who will not economise will have to agonise" or "Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do."
If you view business more aggressively, than Sun Tzu's Art of War may be more for you.
After all, "Opportunities multiply as they are seized" and "Management of many is the same as management of few. It is a matter of organization."
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Constantly travelling for business or networking reasons, often means that you don't get to read as much as you'd like. Stanza allows you to download as many books as you want from a large library of public domain titles with over 20,000 titles available. The application also allows you to read any Word or PDF documents you choose to upload to your phone.
This application allows you to monitor your websites/client websites whilst you're on the move. By creating a list of the sites you wish to track and adding the specific keywords you are optimising for on Google, the application creates an overview of your sites web rankings history.
Worried about your flight being delayed or weather conditions? The FlightTrack application provides real-time locations of your and other flights as well as overlaying weather reports.
Despite four other similar applications, FlightTrack is arguably the best with a clean and easy to read lay-out as well as allowing you to search via a number of criteria. Thee application even keeps you informed of possible gate changes, delays and even in-flight information.
1. Credit Card Terminal For iPhone
This application can be viewed as either an innovation for business or for fraud. Created by two former Microsoft workers, the Credit Card Terminal application lets you, as you'd expect, turn your iPhone into a mobile credit card terminal.
Now, if you're a mobile salesman or a vendor this is a fantastic creation, allowing you to sell your product anywhere, however ones mind immediately goes to the thought of identity theft.
However, your fears can be alleviated; any merchant who uses the application has to sign up with Authorize.net, a payment gateway that handles all transactions (this costs about $25 per month, plus a small transaction fee). After that, the merchant is then able to use the application to enter the customer's card details before charging the sale. Receipts are sent via email.
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