Dashway Technologies

While the Apple iPhone has not conquered the corporate Information Technology official ranks, users are already taking advange of the many applications that it has to offer. Here is a list of useful applications for small, and not so small business users.

1. Evernote - This tool is not exclusive for the iPhone. Actually, that is what makes it so useful. Evernote allows you to keep an access your notes, pictures and other information wherever your are. You can access your notes using a web browser, the Windows or OS X programs, the iPhone or the Blackberry. Anything that you capture in one device is accesible one the other ones. And because it has character recognition, you can find pictures even by searching the text inside of them. Ideal for searching scanned or photographed business cards. So, have important reference information is good, but being able to share with all your field force is much better. Evernote allows you to keep separate notebooks. In one of these notebooks you can store the most current price list, the list of out-of-stock products, reference information and even pictures of your products. And, whenever you refresh the price list, all your sales force will also get the new version of the price list - no need to discriminate between price list versions as it happens when you use e-mail.

2. Toodledo and Action Lists - Just like Evernote, Toodledo is also an application that can be accesed from their web site or using the iPhone application. The web site version of Toodledo is everything that you could wish for keeping your todo list, except that it does not follows strictly the Getting Things Done methodology (for those that use it). Actually, it is possible to apply GTD using the Search functionaloty, but it is not as easy as possible. However, in the iPhone your could use Action Lists instead of the native Toodledo application. Action Lists will sync with the Toodledo web site and will pull all your todos, and also will abide strictly to the GTD methodology. The nice thing about Toodledo (the web site), is that it has an open API and there are synchronization tools for Outlook, Thunderbird and several other applications.

3. Voice memos -  This is a new application included with OS 3.0. I cannot highlight enought how useful is the Voice Memos applicaiton when you have an idea in the bed, the car, or whenever your cannot type them down. Actually, sometimes the ideas flow so fast that typing is not an option. You want to capture them in the moment for transcibing later. And, since you can email the memos, you can ever send them to other people. Actually, you can use the Voice Memos application to send messages to other people in situations when you cannot text.

4. Google Calendar Sync - This is not really an iPhone application, but a method to get your Outlook calendar into your iPhone. You install a Google application to your PC that syncs your Outllook calendars with your Google Calendar. Then you configure your iPhone to sync to your Google Calendar, and voilá! The same is applicable to the Blackberry using Google Sync for Blackberry.