76 Quarter Two 2012

Once upon a time the world of smartphone users was divided into two distinct camps: the Blackberry-packing white collared business executives, and the iPhone-weilding, urban hipster...

Top 10 iPhone Apps

for business

The

I t was a well accepted fact then that the iPhone was the

domain of those creative types who appreciated aesthet-

ics over application, style over substance. The Blackberry

on the other hand, was a specialty device that could per-

form a great deal of business functions, but with little fun

to be had outside the office with its no-nonsense, closed-

platform.

How times have changed.

These days, even though the Apple iPhone is still best-known

for doing a few things exceptionally well, the wealth of applica-

tions available from the iTunes appstore makes the iPhone a sur-

prisingly powerful business device. Accessing files, sophisticated

synching and collaboration software and the opportunity to

have traditional desktop functionality in the palm of your hand

are rapidly making the iPhone the indispensible ‘must-have’

business tool for today’s mobile road-warrior and on-the-go CEO

alike.

So just what’s on offer to the business-person looking to cus-

tomise their iOS experience?

Read on to find out what iStart’s 10 handiest business apps for

iPhone can offer you...

Feature

77Quarter Two 2012

2. Analytics App

If you’re the owner of a website you know that

analytics is everything. That being the case, many

of us want our analytic data wherever, whenever.

Sure, Google Analytics is great for the desktop

PC, but if you want your web stat information

to be available on your mobile, your best bet is

‘Analytics App’, from Inbolsam.

The Analytics App provides a wide range of

Google Analytics reports right on your iPhone.

Getting started is a breeze; just type in your

Google account credentials to gain access to 47

different kinds of website reports, including the

super-convenient ‘today’ report that just shows

you your traffic stats for the last 24 hours without

having to add in any further information. Plus,

you can even create custom reports for multiple

accounts.

Price: US$6.99

http://tinyurl.com/394njb7

1. WiFi FinderIt doesn’t matter how awesome that smart-

phone is, if you haven’t got an internet connec-

tion you’re not really in business. If you’re out and

about, in the strange city or just an unfamiliar

part of town, being able to find a free public WiFi

connection is crucial.

WiFi Finder is the handy solution. It works any-

where in the world and will identify nearby WiFi

connections, whether you’re online or not.

Features include:

• Access to over 145,000 free WiFi locations

worldwide

• Filter by location type, such as cafe or library

• Phone numbers and address information

• Users can bookmark their favourite locations

• Best of all it’s free

Price: FREE

http://tinyurl.com/39oeyrz

3. Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite

Wouldn’t it be great if the iPhone played a little

bit nicer with Microsoft Word? Sure, if someone

sends you a Word Doc via email you can read it,

but unfortunately that’s all you can do. If you have

to edit it, you’re just plain out of luck.

Quickoffice for iPhone is a handy solution to

this problem, offering users a way to view, edit

and exchange Word Docs and Excel documents

via the iPhone. The package is available for

US$12.99, or you can purchase just the individual

Quickword and Quicksheet applications, cur-

rently US$4.99 each. Alternatively, the cheaper

Documents 2 (US $3.99) offers a similar office

suite, only with fewer features included.

Price: US $12.99

http://tinyurl.com/de3yke

78 Quarter Two 2012

5. DropboxDropbox is a free service that lets you take all

your photos, docs, videos (or any other kind of

file) anywhere. After you install Dropbox on your

computer, any file you save into your Dropbox

folder will automatically save to any other com-

puter, iPhone or iPad that you’ve loaded the soft-

ware onto, meaning you can browse, access and

copy any important file from anywhere you’ve

got an internet connection.

Files are automatically updated each time the

version changes, it’s easy to share files with your

friends (simply send them the URL and they can

download their own copy of the file), and if you

lose your device, the contents of your Dropbox

folder is still secure, no matter what.

Price: FREE

http://tinyurl.com/23ppkd8

Feature // Top 10 iPhone Apps

4. ClockIn

One of the burdens of freelance and contract

work is the difficultly in accurately clocking your

time spent on the job. Managing time sheets and

paperwork, and putting that into a format that will

be appreciated by the person paying the bills can

be tricky at the best of times, and trickier when

you’re spending your days out in the field.

Clockin is a simple program that allows you to

track time spent on projects with a few taps of the

finger. You can punch in and out of jobs and the

app can track your shifts among multiple clients.

Current shift information is displayed at the top

of the screen and you can filter reports based on a

client’s details.

Managing multiple clients is easy, with the app

storing client information, such as name, website,

and email addresses along with hours worked.

The information can then be easily exported in an

Excel-compatible format that attaches to an email

that you can send to yourself or your employer.

Price: US $1.99

http://tinyurl.com/7yu6e44

6. SkypeWhen you need that one-to-one communica-

tion but can’t be there, nothing comes close to

Skype. Whether you need to video-chat with

employees across town or business contacts on

the other side of the world, Skype is the leader in

the field.

In addition to all the functionality you expect

with the PC-based version, the iPhone Skype app

also allows you to:

• Video call people via your IOS devices con-

tact list

• Call any Skype contact for free via a valid WiFi

connection or 3G

• Text and call phones anywhere with Skype

Credit

• Enjoy near CD quality sound on your call

Plus lots more.

Price: FREE

http://tinyurl.com/3gjfqzc

79Quarter Two 2012

7. reQallreQall for iPhone is a free, downloadable appli-

cation designed to make your iPhone the hub of

your digital life.

reQall captures tasks and ideas using your

voice or text, automatically organizes your infor-

mation, integrates with your email and calendar,

shares reminders with others and reminds you of

what you need to do.

• Speak or type your reminders into your

iPhone; reQall will convert what you say to text

(up to 30 seconds recording time).

• Get your items organized automatically. reQall

recognizes dates and times (including recurring

dates) and certain keywords. You can also create

your own categories and tags.

• Receive timely reminders via email or IM. In

addition, reQall constantly displays a summary of

what you need to remember right now.

• Share reminders with your friends, family and

co-workers, using your iPhone’s contact list.

• Call, email, or browse from within reQall items

that include phone numbers, email addresses,

and URLs.

• Connect anywhere your iPhone has a data

connection, worldwide. If you work offline, reQall

syncs itself when you reconnect.

Price: FREE

http://tinyurl.com/5cakge

››

9. Hootsuite Hootsuite is a great app that lets you plan and

execute campaigns across multiple social media

platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and

Google+, as well as the social media aspects of

sites such as YouTube, Flickr and Tumblr, all from

a single, secure cloud-based dashboard.

You can publish messages, monitor the conver-

sations that follow, track results, and even trans-

late messages to and from over 50 languages, all

from your iPhone.

You can also:

• View your LinkedIn connections’ activity

• Comment on posts in Facebook News Feed

• Translate messages for Facebook and Twitter

• Schedule updates for future sending

• Forward messages via email

• Examine message click statistics by date

• See which countries are clicking on your links

• Track user ratings for links

Price: FREE

http://tinyurl.com/22kqxnp

8. iFaxUse iFax to send an unlimited number of faxes

from an iPhone for free. Use your iPhone to take

photos then send the image as a fax. Pictures

already in the photo library can also be attached

to faxes.

iFax offers a customizable cover page, includ-

ing logos and signatures, that can be used as a

template for all faxes, and users can add docu-

ment text directly from the app interface.

iFax also features:

• PDF and Document Integration - import from

mail, upload or download from the web: PDF,

DOC, XLS, JPG and other documents supported.

• Integration with Dropbox. Transfer documents

from Dropbox and include in your fax.

• Push-Notification Fax confirmations - real-time

messages sent to the app with fax notifications

and status updates.

• Document Scanner technology - Crop and

adjust brightness, sharpness etc to optimize

images for faxing.

Price: FREE

http://tinyurl.com/6vwgj2o

80 Quarter Two 2012

10. LinkedInNo list of the best business apps for iPhone

would be complete without at least of mention of

LinkedIn. The LinkedIn app gives you easy access

to the popular, business-oriented social-network-

ing site with just the touch of a few buttons.

The easy-to-use interface gives you a search

bar, invite button, and all the other important

functionality of LinkedIn, allowing you to read the

latest industry news, keep up-to-date with your

groups, and share content with your network

from anywhere in the world.

Set up is made easy too with clever sync-

ing. You can quickly transfer the names, email

addresses, and photos of your LinkedIn connec-

tions directly into your iPhone address book all at

the touch of a button.

Price: FREE

http://tinyurl.com/2b465wa

5. Angry birdsLong flights, boring meetings, you name it, Angry Birds has mul-

tiple uses across a range of business applications.

Price: US$0.99

http://tinyurl.com/yddqg54

Feature // Top 10 iPhone Apps

Honourable mentions...1. CamCard Lite

CamCard is a professional business card reader and business

card scanner. Simply take a picture of a business card, CamCard

recognizes the card and saves contact information in Card Holder

or your Address Book.

Price: FREE

http://tinyurl.com/6q82cgs

2. Roambi Roambi Analytics is another analytics app that quickly trans-

forms your business reports and data – from many popular busi-

ness applications – into intuitive and engaging mobile analytics,

instantly delivered to any iPhone or iPad. It lets you easily view and

interact with your company’s latest information – giving you the

insight you need for on-the-go analysis, impromptu presentations

and smart decision-making – while in the office, or on-the-move.

Price: FREE http://tinyurl.com/87yvgy2

3. Straight to VoicemailFinally, an app that lets you make that dreaded phone call to your

boss, wife, girlfriend, co-worker or parent without having to speak to

them. Want to cancel that meeting, but don't want to speak one-on-

one? sTv is perfect for you.

Price: US$1.99

http://tinyurl.com/6rop9bs

4. Call Recording ProCall recording Pro lets you record incoming and outgoing calls

anywhere in the world. As soon as you hang up the line, an MP3

download link is sent to you. Simple genius.

Price: US $2.99

http://tinyurl.com/77f6mds