This is a guest post from Larry Dignan. You can read the original article on Larry’s blog Between the Lines on TechRepublic’s
sister site ZDNet.
Apple’s iPhone app parade got an early jump on the 3G version of the
popular device Thursday, but business and productivity apps seem to be
lagging in the back of the line.
Aside from Salesforce.com and Oracle, enterprise heavyweights seem to be sitting out the early wave of
iPhone apps (Techmeme, statement, iTunes 7.7 download).
Here’s an early look at the most popular business apps–popular is a
bit relative since the store is launched before the 3G iPhone and we’re
all window shopping:
As you can see from the screenshot, Salesforce Mobile and Oracle
Business Indicators are prominent. Other business apps fall into the
more personal business category and focus on tracking expenses, yellow
pages, flights and Bloomberg, which would probably be my first app
downloaded since I’m a financial nerd.
Also see: Poll: Does your IT
department plan to support the iPhone 3G, with its improved enterprise features?
On the productivity side of the house, Apple’s App Store has a bunch
of apps that I wouldn’t necessarily call must haves. A lot of to-do
list sort of apps. Photobucket for iPhone and QuickLight I suppose are
productive, but your IT department may beg to differ.
Perhaps things on the business side of the iPhone will pick up, but
the early days will probably focus on the games. There’s no lack of
selection there, which is probably why I’ll opt for a new iPod touch
over an iPhone. I’m not going to bluff that the iPhone is going to make
me more productive. I’ll stick to what works–an iPod touch with plenty
of items to help me pass some time on the trains, planes and
automobiles.
