I've been a total Apple geek for more than 20 years. So it was with all my strength and might that I attempted to do my job today despite the release of hundreds of new applications for the iPhone, which I bought on the day it was released last year for full price. (I have no regrets despite the price cut that followed.) Those of you who use BlackBerries know what it does for your productivity. I had one of those at one point, too, but the iPhone is a zillion times better, particularly since my platform of choice at home and at work is the Mac OS. But considering that
iPhone now has a lot more potential for business users than before, I thought I'd offer a quick rundown of some travel- and business-related applications unveiled with today's launch of the
iPhone App Store.
First of all, hotels.com, Travelocity and TripAdvisor both announced cool location-based iPhone apps. I haven't checked them out yet.
The Apps Store also includes at least five expense tracking applications as well as a $30 program called TravelTracker, which stores itineraries, packing lists, travel expenses and loyalty program data, and offers flight status, flight seating charts and directories for industry suppliers.
There's an app called Stage Hand that lets you control Keynote presentations with the iPhone. Keynote is Apple's version of PowerPoint. Maybe I'll try Keynote with Stage Hand at The Beat Live.
Also interesting: Salesforce Mobile and a voice recognition app called Jott.
Plus there's obviously a ton of entertainment, games and social networking applications. I'm saving South Park Imaginationland for when I'm actually
done with the work day.