Anyone who has played with an iPad will probably be impressed with how slick it is but may come away with the idea that it is only good for playing games and a bit of light web surfing. In amongst the games and picturebook apps, the App Store is home to some innovative business tools. Here is our round-up of the best.
iA Writer
$17.99
www.iawriter.com
When you have to get something written and you don’t want any distractions, iA Writer is the text editor of choice. One font, no formatting and practically no interface at all. Just you and whatever you need to write. “It helps keep me focused by fading out the paragraphs before and after the one I’m working on,” says James Ellis, Digital Strategist at healthcare marketers Closerlook Inc., “And since it’s Dropbox-integrated, I just hit Save and walk away knowing I can grab the content almost anywhere.”
Calvetica
£1.99
James is also a fan of Calvetica, a streamlined calender app from developers Mysterious Trousers LLC. “It’s gorgeous and the guys who built it are very focused on making each action easy and fast.” The app works with the existing iOS calendar but can sync with Google Calendar and MS Exchange if required. Where Calvetica excels is in getting as much information about your appointments on screen as possible without letting things get too cluttered.
iTeleport
£17.49
www.iteleportmobile.com
Ever needed to get to your work PC when you are out of the office? “iTeleport was created to let people access their computers from anywhere in the world, using their iPhone and iPad,” says iTeleport CEO Jahanzeb Sherwani, “no technical expertise is needed – it turns the screen into a giant touchpad or trackpad (like those found on laptops) while still showing you the remote desktop screen.” iTeleport’s customers use the app for everything from a remote control for a media player to accessing database records while on the road. We just think it will be handy the next time we forget to email a file to ourselves before we leave the office.
iAnnotate PDF
$9.99
www.ajidev.com
If you ever have to read long PDF documents and annotate them, iAnnotate PDF is the aptly-name iPad app for you. This app combines a great PDF reader that can handle long documents, open PDFs directly from DropBox (so no more tedious document synching required) and then let you scribble all over them with a selection of virtual pens. You can highlight, circle, type notes, attach pictures and voice notes and generally muck about with the PDF until it is ready to be shared via either cloud storage or email.
SimpleNote
SimpleNote started life as a web-based notepad but the iPad app turns it into a versatile cloud-based notepad and jotter that can be used to capture ideas and data quickly. Morgan Johnston, Social Media srategist for JetBlue Airways, is a big fan. “With the ability to sync notes between it and my computer with things like SimpleNote and Notational Velocity (a Mac app that syncs with the same back-end) I don’t need to worry about going back to my desk to transcribe my notes, or keep multiple versions in different spots. It’s all just there for me.”
Fuze Meeting HD
Free
www.fuzemeeting.com
Facetime gets the swish, soft-focus adverts laden with smiling grandparents and simpering lovers but for business-ready videoconferencing and collaboration, Fuze Meeting is much more the ticket. Rafael Alenda, VP of Marketing at developers Fuze Box, explains,”Knowledge workers need to be able to be productive with any gadget that has glass and be able to collaborate on video, documents and face-to-face (video conferencing). Our software is different in that we allow you to upload content, persistently, to your content locker in the cloud and bring the content into your meeting – all without a download for attendees or hosts.”
Producteev
Varies (dependent on size of group)
www.producteev.com
Producteev is a web-based task manager that now boasts its own dedicated iPad app. Producteev scales from a personal to-do list to a full featured collaborative task management system that supports team workspaces, shared tasks and multiple views of your lists to highlight priority, completion and due dates. The app also integrates into your existing email and calendaring systems to make sure you get the reminders you need. If you’re a remote working and want to keep yourself and your team organised in a simple, hassle free way – take a look at this. Try using it at the end of catch-up meetings to establish actions for your staff or clients.
Documents To Go
£8.99
www.dataviz.com
The company behind Documents To Go has been providing mobile users with a way of getting their MS Office documents for several year but with the iPad they have hit a sweet spot of portability and functionality. You can sync documents from your PC or Mac or link directly to cloud storage like DropBox or Google Docs. Word, Excel and Powerpoint docs are supported seamlessly for editing and viewing and changes are synchronised instantly.
Recruitment and HR consultant, Lisa Mortleman is an enthusiastic Documents to Go user, “It’s great for my business because it allows me to review candidates’ CVs and information about employers on the go, which improves the speed of service I’m able to offer.”
Evernote
Free
www.evernote.com
More than just a notepad, Evernote is more like a virtual scrapbook. You can quickly create text notes, make notes out of pictures, grab sections of entire web pages and annotate them and even stash audio memos away. Whatever stuff you pack into an Evernote notebook (and you can have several notebooks for different purposes or projects) you can categorise and tag to make searching easier. It is the kind of app that you will keep finding new uses for. So far we have used it to jot down meeting minutes, hold a collection of pictures for use as colour samples, capture the numberplate of a car involved in an accident so we could report it to the police and keep a diary of a training course…
Bento
£2.99
www.filemaker.co.uk
The makers of popular database Filemaker Pro have come up with Bento – a slick, easy to use database app that offers customisable templates to make collecting, searching and displaying your data really simple. You can sync with Bento for the Mac or use the app standalone. Originally written for iPhone, the iPad version has been redesigned for the larger screen with several impressive and clear themes. You can quickly put together an expenses tracker, contact database, product catalogue and more using a predefined template or customising your own to collect just the data you need.
Stuart Houghton
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