When it comes to mobile phones and business use, RIM’s Blackberry series of feature-rich smartphones might immediately come to mind. But a wide and versatile range of apps are actually making Apple’s iPhone an attractive business tool for those on the go.

(Image Credit)

Here are my picks of some of the most practical and useful iPhone apps for small business owners. Some of these apps are available free of charge at the iPhone App Store, others can be acquired for a nominal fee.

Personal Assistance and Time Management

  • reQall: A powerful speech-to-text task manager.

  • LiveTimer: A simple and easy to use online time tracking service.

  • Todo: This simple task management app can be used by itself or synchronized with tasks on the web or desktop.

News

  • Google News: Straight-forward app that keeps you up-to-date on the lastest headlines from news outlets worldwide.

  • Spreed: If your time is limited, then you can try this application that helps users read bits of news and blog posts faster and easier.

Business Tools

  • JotNot: This amazing app turns your iPhone into a document digitizer. JotNot enhances captured images and turns them into documents to be e-mailed.

  • FedEx Mobile: Get up-to-date shipping and tracking information, arrange ground or express shipping, find a FedEx location, or create labels on the go.

  • iTrack: Easy to use multiple-carrier (FedEx, UPS, USPS, and DHL) package tracker.

  • Gmail: Look up recently read messages while you are off-line, compose multiple drafts, and view attachments with Google’s easy-to-use format.

  • Epiphany Recorder: This must-have audio recorder can even record moments that already happened! Tap the “Remember That” button and it saves the previous two minutes of audio and continues recording as long as you want.

  • Fring: Users can connect to their Skype VOIP account to make free calls anywhere in the world.

Finance

  • BalanceDo: Send customer invoices, track receivables, and even manage payments through PayPal.

  • Billing Manager: A focused and easy-to-use invoicing app created by Inuit.

  • MerchantWare Mobile: Perform credit card transactions directly from your iPhone with a Merchant Warehouse account.

  • BizExpense: This app helps track and report business expenses. Great for those who conduct business on the go.

  • Timewerks: This time-tracking and invoicing app helps you keep track of your time and materials as well as send invoices.

Information & File Management

  • SugarSync: An amazingly versatile and easy to use app that lets you remotely access any computer (even if it is turned off) and view files in several formats, including Word, Excel, PDF files, Powerpoint, videos, and MP3. SugarSync also supports an impressive file sharing feature.

  • ReaddleDocs: A comprehensive document and file management app that can access and store documents from computers, web sites, email attachments, MobileMe iDisk as well as other online file storage solutions. ReaddleDocs features a document viewer, file manager, network file server, web storage client and a web browser.

  • Print & Share: Print emails, mail attachments, photos, documents, contacts and web pages from your iPhone to a local printer.

  • Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite: View and edit Microsoft Word and Excel docs. Also accesses files from MobileMe or networked computers.

  • QuickBooks Online: Check your accounts receivable and payable, vendor, customer, and employee info, bank account and credit card balances, balance sheet and profit & loss reports. You can even look up vendor and client addresses using Google Maps.

  • Google Analytics: Check the data from multiple Google Analytics accounts in a user-friendly format.

Business Travel Tools

  • FlightTrackPro: Get real-time itinerary updates for flights around the world. Stay current on airport delay and closure warnings, conduct alternate flight schedule searches, look up weather forecasts and TripIt flight itineraries.

  • Gas Buddy: The most comprehensive source of gas prices in the US and Canada; this app will tell you where to go to get the cheapest gas.

  • MileBug: Keep track of your mileage for one or more businesses.

  • Superpages Mobile: Find local businesses by searching the Superpages directory of over 20 million US businesses, get directions, and submit a business review. You can even use this app to look up people, get movie info, and locate local WiFi hotspots.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *