iPhone: Only fun and games?

Today, as I fiddled with my Nokia mobile and gave myself another reason as to why I will never buy another phone made by that company, (I could have a whole post outlining those reasons) I had a thought race across my mind. What about the iPhone as my next mobile? As most people on the planet are aware, the iPhone has been on the darling of the mobile industry. Recently, the applications designed for it surpassed 10,000! That could translate into a lot of useful programs which could potentially simplify things for a busy professional. Now, I have heard a lot of grumblings about the iPhone from front line business professionals in relation to its lack of programs purely designed for their use. These individuals have lambasted the iPhone for being a fun toy but of little use in their working day. This post in effect, will be dedicated to delving somewhat deeper into this matter.

A quick search over at Techcrunch certainly did not lend support to the notion of the iPhone being only fun and games. Here is the list of the top paid apps for the iPhone:

Top Paid Apps (Overall):

Koi Pond
Texas Hold’em
Moto Chaser
Crash Bandicoot: Nitro Kart 3d
Super Monkey Ball
Cro-Mag Rally
Enigmo
Pocket Guitar
Recorder
iBeer

Hmm…I can’t really fathom just how useful iBeer or Pocket Guitar is to the busy executive but I could stand corrected. For a complete listing of other rankings in terms of paid and non paid top application downloads please check out the Techcrunch article.

Upon a second search, I found a site which outlined a number of different business apps for the iPhone which could definitely boost the performance of individual professionals and in essence their respective companies.

I have compiled a basic list of the apps covered in this article:

Oracle Business Indicators, Splash Money, HyperOffice
Readdle Docs, Quickbooks, Netnewswire
Salesforce, NuevaSync, WinAdmin

I assume that if there are over 10,000 apps now there must be more than the aforementioned in relation to pure business minded programs. Some of above are heavy hitters with the power and effectiveness to really make a difference for someone committed to harnessing it within their enterprise.

So, in effect what I have gleaned from my five minute search is that yes the iPhone does have apps out there. Perhaps it’s the proliferation of useful apps like ‘iBeer’ or ‘Super Monkey Ball’ which damage the iPhone’s image as a business tool or maybe more time is needed for the business applications to catch on and gain traction within the professional community. Either of the two or possibly both explanations could explain the overall malaise of business professionals towards the iPhone thus far. It will be interesting to see how this evolves and where Apple desires to position the iPhone in the future.

Canadian Chris