Best Business Apps for iPhone

These days, cell phones are becoming an important part of many different businesses. If you own an iPhone, there are even more ways to put your phone to work; the App Store has over 2,000 business apps! Below is a list of some of the must-haves:

Oracle Business Indicators: The Oracle Business Indicators app provides real-time business performance and information. Customize your financial, HR, supply chain, and customer relationship management analytics for free, as long as you own a version Oracle Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition Plus or Oracle Business Intelligence Applications.

LinkedIn: LinkedIn.com fans and users can access the website anytime, anywhere with the LinkedIn iPhone app. Send and receive invitations, messages, post status updates, and find contact info. The best part is, it's free.

Thomson Reuters: The Reuters app keeps you up to date on breaking news, global market information - including deals and mergers - and allows you to personalize lists of stocks and companies to watch. Browse in-depth company profiles with business descriptions, contact information, and employee profiles, and search relevant location-specific news. There is also technology, sports and entertainment news.

FedEx mobile: With the FedEx mobile app, you'll find up to date information on the status of your shipments by creating a watch list for important packages or inputting tracking numbers to track packages individually. Info can be personalized and all tracked FedEd packages appear automatically in the system.

Salesforce.com: This app allows business users to view and edit Salesforce.com records, accounts, opportunities and leads, as well as access account activity as needed. The app comes in two versions: Mobile Lite provides you with a stripped down version of the website, to all customers with Professional, Enterprise, or Unlimited Edition licenses; the full version allows you to create, edit, and delete capabilities and requires you to have the Unlimited Edition or Mobile license.

Huddle: The Huddle iPhone app allows you to share files, manage projects, organize virtual meetings, access your data on the go (including tasks, discussions, spreadsheets and presentations) and so much more.

Adobe LiveCycle: This one is also free, but you must have Adobe LiveCycle Process Management ES2 configured. The Adobe LiveCycle app allows you to connect to your lists of pending tasks and process, and approve or reject them directly from your phone. You can also view PDF files, call or email task initiators and share task lists with colleagues.

RSA SecurID token: If you need to access sensitive networked information that is protected by RSA SecurID, this app allows you to do it directly from your iPhone, with your phone becoming a software authenticator. You can import a software token that will generate a SecurID password and eliminate the need to carry an authenticator. Again, this app is free but you must already own RSA Authentication Manager and RSA SecurID Software Token Seeds.

Cisco Mobile: This app provides you with access to your company's internal phone system, allowing you to join meetings, answer business calls and check your voicemail. It also alerts you to missed calls, redirects business calls to your iPhone and allows you to dial via the office. You may also join Cisco Unified MeetingPlace via your phone. While the app is free, you must have a Cisco Unified Mobility Advantage server to use it.

Various Airline Apps: Many airlines offer free apps that provide you with up-to-the-minute information on flight arrival and departure for that particular airline. Browse flight schedules, plan your itineraries, or book and manage flights, and check-in online with these apps, depending on what airline you fly.

NetSuite: This one provides mobile access to NetSuites business management suite. Access real-time dashboards, financial and customer data, including sales orders, support cases and opportunities, and task management. Free to all current NetSuite users.

Wyse PocketCloud: User can manage their entire Windows desktop, data, and applications with this app. It offers secure Remote Desktop, VMware View, Thin-Browser and automatic keyboard activation when users install the free PocketCloud Windows Companion on their desktops.

Citrix Receiver: This app allows you to access any Windows app or document directly on your iPhone so that you may open documents, update reports, approve expenses and join webinars. You can also use the app to zoom, pan, click, scroll and type. All of your data is saved on your company's network. It uses Citrix HDX technology to deliver multi-media content. This is another free app, but it requires you to have a wi-fi or 3G connection, also XenApp Web Services and Citrix XenApp 5 or Presentation Server 4.5.

iAnywhere Mobile: With this app, you can have access to Lotus Domino and Micrsoft Exchange, and supports email, calendars, tasks and contacts, as well as providing email push notification. It includes several great security features such as password protection, data encryption, and on-demand data wipe.

Skype: Call anyone with a skype account or send instant messages with this app - as long as you have a mobile data connection or wi-fi access. You may also use it to call landlines worldwide at cheap rates and send cheap texts.

Evernote: This app allows you to create text, picture and audio notes and then synch them with a Mac, PC, or the internet. You may also access them offline. Each note includes geo-location information for mapping and search.

Microsoft Courier - An SMB Must?

Thanks to the new Courier tablet from Microsoft, all things tech considered cool have now been bumped up a notch. This double-screen tablet is your day planner digitized. The Courier has yet to be 100% confirmed by Microsoft who says that this is just one of many prototypes in the tablet platform for them. But throw in some rumors of Apple's tablet and Asus' E-reader/netbook and we may be closer to seeing this baby in action than we thought.

Courier appears to be the next wave in personal business devices. What little we know about Courier tells us that this device is a side-by-side dual screen tablet that works like a book. Each screen is 7inches in size and Courier has a built in camera as well as Wi-Fi. Information input varies from multi-touch gestures like pinching and flicking to using a stylus for things like writing and drawing.

Details are sketchy on how Courier will handle things like e-mail or if it comes with things specific for video conferences and VoIP like a microphone. But Courier does look like an outstanding replacement to the traditional pen and paper way of planning your schedule. It takes everything we love about pen and paper planning and combines it with the ease and speed of a computer. Courier has two pages as well as large writing spaces to make it easy for you do work.

With access to the web Courier seems designed specifically for use by businesses, managers, sales people etc... For the first time ever you have a fully digital day planner right at your fingertips. Users can take advantage of data mash-ups like taking your contacts and flicking them onto a map to find their location, which would come in handy to people and businesses that have to go on appointments or make deliveries. Note taking is easy with the reasonable screen size and stylus which makes it a perfect tool to take into meetings or even school and you also have web access at your fingertips. Courier, it seems, will have nothing to do with the Windows 7 or Windows Mobile Operating Systems. Instead it will use an operating system specifically designed for the Courier.

This innovation is the perfect device for any business owner, worker, or anybody that needs to keep their daily plans at the ready. It allows you to get rid of the messy pen and paper which means you will never loose your plans again. This tablet is up against a similar device from Apple. However, the Apple tablet seems to be geared more towards entertainment while Courier is presented more towards the business aspect of life. It is still undetermined whether or not Courier, or even Apple's tablet, will come out but you can bet they both will be popular products if they do.