Nine Awesome iPhone Apps for Business

Written by Steven Walling / August 7, 2009 2:09 PM / 20 Comments

Maybe it's odd to be recommending iPhone apps right now, with the house of cards that is the confused App Store policy falling down on Apple's head. But business users, we know you've got no time for listening to the woes of developers. You need to get things done.

From file sharing and mobile meetings to serious data analysis and business intelligence, here are nine of the coolest apps for enterprise iPhone users that we could find. Considering the economy, we also tried to stick to the free and low-cost options, and you'd be surprised just how much you can get for so little.

Roambi

For data geeks, this is the coolest enterprise app ever made. Roambi is basically a visualizer for reports and business intelligence, and the enterprise server lets you connect with data from applications like Excel, Salesforce.com, Web Intelligence and Crystal Reports. If you haven't taken a look at this, go do so right now.

Cost: free
Get it

Box.net

Box.net is a SaaS collaboration and file-sharing platform that positions itself as a SharePoint alternative. The free mobile app, which is also available on BlackBerry, lets you stay up to date on the files being shared in your company. There are other file-sharing and FTP apps out there, but Box.net is fast, is reliable, and has the right approach to collaboration.

Cost: free
Get it

Fuze Meeting

I prefer Fuze Meeting's mobile version for meetings and Web conferencing to the Cisco WebEx iPhone app. It works just as reliably and has a chat feature that's on par with others, but it's a much more intuitive and interesting experience. That's sure to be a win when it comes to holding people's attention during mobile meetings.

Cost: free
Get it

Bump

Bump isn't limited strictly to business, but it's the best business card replacement on the iPhone. All you have to do is open the app, hold your phone, and then gently touch hands in the fist bump position. That's it. There are other virtual contacts applications, but the physical action required in Bump is just cool. Adding a simple meatspace component was a stroke of genius and makes Bump a joy to use.

Cost: free
Get it

iXpenseIt

The best thing about this expense recorder is that zero functionality is withheld in the free version; you're just limited to 10 expenses. Entering your data is easy, but the two really nice features are how they're viewed and what you can do with them. Once you've got all your expenses in the app, you've got the choice of three different viewing options: summaries, bar charts and graphs. Once you've got a handle on things, you can export the data via email in either HTML or CSV.

Cost: free for the Lite version or $4.99
Get it

Things

There are so many apps for to-do lists and task management it's insane. I use a free one, and the mobile version of Remember The Milk isn't bad either. But in a crowded space, we're going to take advice from a geek we trust and recommend Things. It's got an easy-to-navigate interface that's not too busy, but it's a little more fully-featured than most of the free to-do list apps.

Cost: $9.99
Get it

FreshBooks

Mobile time tracking and invoicing are fantastic, and FreshBooks' mobile app gets the job done in that department. Doing time tracking on a mobile device is something I find much easier even if I'm working on my laptop or desktop, and the easy switch from tracking to invoicing makes life much easier.

Cost: free
Get it

Yammer

We've pointed out the big problems with Yammer in the past, and enterprise microblogging is a space that's still developing quickly. Obviously, if your coworkers are reluctant or IT policy prevents it, this isn't going to be a useful app. But if you're using Twitter for the enterprise, Yammer has the best mobile integration at this point. Be sure to look for mobile apps for other platforms coming in the next year or so.

Cost: free
Get it

Salesforce Mobile

Last but not least is the mobile app for the elephant in the room when it comes to SaaS CRMs. Salesforce's mobile support is impressive, to say the least. For mobile salespeople out chasing leads, there's no better way to access all kinds of essential data.

Cost: free
Get it

If you've got any other favorite iPhone apps you use for business, be sure to mention them below. There are some great apps we didn't mention here for the sake of sticking to the broadest possible audience, but we know that ones specific to sales, content management and IT are out there.

Photo by William Hook

Comments

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Hey, you forgot LinkedIn for iPhone. Great app, even though it's a bit limited in that you can only search your existing connections, not discover new ones.

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=288429040&mt=8

Posted by: Joe Pemberton | August 7, 2009 3:36 PM

If you are using FreshBooks and have an iPhone / iPod touch, you should check out MiniBooks. It is a great iPhone app that has a lot more functionality than FreshBooks own app.

Posted by: Will Robertson | August 7, 2009 4:52 PM

I use ReQall as my todo and scheduler. Make entries via voice and the service translates it to text. It's become an essential.

Posted by: Hiram | August 7, 2009 6:57 PM

LOL, these are the best business apps there are for the iPhone? There is either a dearth of available useful apps, or you should use an actual business person to write such a review. This is woefully unimpressive.

Posted by: Yoram Roth | August 8, 2009 1:59 AM

Wow, lots of free stuffs here.. checking them now. Thanks RWW.

Posted by: ITrush | August 8, 2009 6:48 AM

Nice one. Here is more about i phones. This gives i phone a great publicity in business field.

Posted by: Business directory | August 8, 2009 8:14 AM

Surprised to see you omitted fastdue mobile but included Freshbooks. FD is free and does most of what Freshbooks does. Some pros and cons on both sides though. Fastdue is better for collections and invoicing, FB is a more robust accounting package. Most businesses dont use most of features of accounting software so both apps make a lot of sense for anyone trying to free theme selves from Quickbooks et al

Also skype is one of the best business tools out there- needs to be included along with Fastdue mobile.

Thanks

Posted by: Sarah Townsend | August 8, 2009 9:22 AM

I love Roambi --it does an exceptional job at displaying and exploring data. It is not just for business! It comes with great built in datasets for personal interest and education MLB stats, World Population, etc.
I have uploaded my own excel sheets and can display student grades easily and confidentially.

Posted by: Kathleenn | August 8, 2009 10:15 AM

Not sure how you can forget iFax? :)

$10 for free, unlimited, lifetime faxing with no account required...

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=322107412&mt=8

Posted by: Adrian | August 8, 2009 12:36 PM

Great list of apps. For conferencing I use a different alternative. RHUB has a no download option for attendees of the web conference so all you need is a browser and internet connection. I get an email from the person hosting and click on the link and I'm in. View only though, no collaboration this way. Anyway, you can check them out here: http://www.rhubcom.com

Posted by: Steve | August 8, 2009 4:24 PM

WorldMate ( www.worldmate.com/iphone )is very helpfull for business travelers. I don't travel anywhere without it.

Posted by: Al | August 9, 2009 3:12 AM

Some really nice apps there, even better that some are free too.

Posted by: Accountants | August 9, 2009 7:13 AM

Not a bad list, but if you want to get more in-depth analysis and a broader perspective of enterprise and business class app overviews, check out iPhoneCTO.com.

--bf

Posted by: Bill | August 9, 2009 5:50 PM

Thank you for this good list and screenshots. I appreciate the effort. The reviews are awesome, i'm really looking at the details of every app. right now, I have Fuze Meeting.

Posted by: iPhone 3G S lover | August 9, 2009 7:53 PM

Great List! I'll be checking out some of these apps soon. I always enjoy making business and life easier. Rock on iPhone.

Posted by: Bluegrass | August 10, 2009 7:42 AM

What about Evernote? I use that ALL the time.

Posted by: Joshua Martinez | August 10, 2009 9:44 AM

This is awesome, Steven! Thanks for putting this together and for including FreshBooks on it : )

Someone already mentioned MiniBooks, but it bears repeating. More than time tracking, you can create clients, credit, edit and send invoices from your iPhone and more! Really awesome stuff.

Rayanne Langdon -- Queen of Hearts, FreshBooks.com

Posted by: Rayanne Langdon | August 10, 2009 12:40 PM

Great list - great comments! I have been to the app store and downloaded a bunch of those listed in the article and listed in the comments!

Posted by: D. Bossert | August 10, 2009 1:57 PM

Great post! Thanks for taking the time to put this together. It makes me wish that I had an iPhone. Maybe I’ll just have to go out and buy one! LOL.

Posted by: micro sd card | November 29, 2009 11:37 PM