Top iPhone Apps for Entrepreneurs

Akash Shah — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:32:00 +0000

The iPhone has swept the nation. Everywhere you look, almost every person is sporting their white headphones with their iPhone in their hands. To me, the iPhone is more than just a phone and an iPod with a shiny Apple logo on the back. I’ve had my iPhone 3G for over a year now. I don’t mean to sound like every other iPhone enthusiast, but I truly cannot live without it. One of the reasons it’s now an integral part of my life is its application capabilities. Being an entrepreneur myself, my iPhone is a savior. The “Email and Internet everywhere you go” is a known benefit of the iPhone. However, what some people fail to see is it’s great abilities in the application market. In this article, I will explain the top application that I use on my iPhone to manage my companies.

Credit Card Terminal

Let’s say you own your own apparel store (as I do myself). Imagine how great it would be to have a device in your pocket that could accept credit cards wherever you go. Here’s a real life situation that happened to me. I was on a plane going back to Brown University from my winter break. Living in California, each break I have an 8 hour plane ride back to college. Each time I meet a new person. One flight I met a man who was interested in Brown and how I got it. I discussed my business ventures in high school as well as my current endeavors. Well, he was interested in buying one of my designs from Fujii App(ar)le. I handed him my iPhone with Credit Card Terminal open. He put in his credit card information and instantly his payment was verified and sent to my employees. That to me is one of the great uses to way iPhones.

CC Terminal costs $0.99 for a limited time. The regular price is $49.99 but the application comes with a $50 iTunes Gift Card. To use this app, you will have to fork over $25 per month for an account with the firm. Each transaction will cost 24 cents plus 2.09% of the total. So, obviously before you use this application, make sure its benefits outweigh the costs. Most importantly, it uses 3G and WiFi.

Get CC Terminal on iTunes!

Flight Tracker Pro

Frequent flyers know how frustrating it is to go to the airport just to see your flight delayed for hours or even last-minute gate changes. Many entrepreneurs fly to go to business meetings. Imagine going to the airport and missing your flight and then consequently your meeting with a client because of a last-minute gate change. Flight Tracker Pro will check for your gate numbers and flight cancellations, and search alternative schedules. For each flight, enthusiasts can view the aircraft type, speed, and altitude. It also checks FAA airport delays and closures, airport arrival times, and temperature, and it tracks your flights worldwide.

It costs $9.99 but there are no transaction fees. All you have to do is forward your airline confirmation e-mail to plans@tripit.com.

Get Flight Tracker Pro here!

mbPointer

You, as an entrepreneur or business professional, might have many presentations to make. Regular PowerPoint presentations cost upwards of $10. Why not save some money and buy an iPhone application. For just $2.99, you can transform your iPhone into a pointer and slide changer.

To use mbPointer with your computer, you need to install the free companion receiver application. Then mbPointer connects to your PC or Mac via Wi-Fi and acts as a remote control for your presentations. But this app is much more than just a PowerPoint remote–it also lets your iPhone serve as a regular touchpad for your PC, allowing you to perform mouse movements (including scrolling and middle-button clicking) with your finger on a virtual pad. Fancy, huh?

Get mbPointer now!

Analytics App

As a web manager for three companies as well as other ventures, I need to be able to keep track of all my websites and how well they are doing whenever I can, especially on the go. One of the best ways to sense the popularity of your website as well as judge how much more marketing you need is to get the Analytics App. This app gives you all the features of Google Analytics on your iPhone. Getting started with Analytics App is as easy as entering your Google account credentials. Analytics App offers 47 types of reports in a neatly organized interface, including custom reports for multiple accounts.

Check the Analytics App now!

QuickOffice Mobile Office Suite

You get an email attachment from your client. He or she wants you to review and edit their documents before they send it out to their lawyer. One problem…you are on a plane with no access to a computer. Well, it’s a fact. iPhone + Microsoft Office documents do not match. You can read the document but there is no free ability to edit your documents directly on the iPhone. Until now…

QuickOffice provides a comprehensive suite that can view, edit, and exchange Microsoft Word and Excel documents on the go. For just $9.99 (for the next 10,000 customers for a limited time), you can have this great ability wherever you go.