14 DAY TRIAL // Apple partnered IBM to get into the enterprise market. Their partnership will result in creating thousands of apps for large businesses. Yet, if you look at the AppStore now, there are lots of great apps that serve most of that purpose.
The AppStore editors have been hard at work creating and publishing a new collection of apps dedicated to the business environment and they noticed that most of the consumer apps had a high degree of usability in that area.
The new selection consists of 38 different apps. They are not divided into categories, but you can tell most of them are Productivity, Finance, or Business apps.
As expected, Apple put at the top of the Featured list their own apps from the iWork Suite for iOS: Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. And they arguably are some of the best apps to get your company started. Everyone needs a cheap or free alternative to Microsoft Office while on the go and Pages will successfully replace the mobile version of Word, Keynote is much better than Powerpoint on iOS, while Numbers can compete with Excel at any point, on your iPhone and iPad.
Admittedly, the Microsoft Office suite has more features on your Mac and the iWork apps can only be used on your PC in the browser with a limited feature set.
Back to the iOS Business apps, one of the big favorites of the busy people is OmniFocus 2. This is the ultimate task manager. You can keep track of tasks by project, place, person, or date and it syncs with your desktop OmniFocus so you are on top of your game at any point.
Evernote is the drawer that helps you organize all sorts of documents and files you throw at it. It will OCR pictures and PDF files so you're going to get faster results just by searching. The app is free, but you have to pay a Premium Subscription for extra storage and capabilities. The prices are different from country to country, so be sure to check them on the Evernote website or inside the app itself.
One of the best apps ever is 1Password. We can’t stress enough how useful is it for individuals who want to keep their data and passwords safe, so in the enterprise world this can work miracles. 1Password creates strong unique passwords, remembers all of them, and can help you login with just a tap. Its OS X and browser counterparts are going to help you be more productive.
Talking about staying in the game, using Dropbox on your iPhone or iPad is a no-brainer. This free app will get you the folder structure Apple forgot to include in iOS. Everything syncs with your Mac or PC and some of the best apps in the AppStore are made to work or sync via Dropbox. Keep your important documents in this app and you will have access to them anywhere, online and offline.
The Business Apps list includes some other great examples like GoodReader, Delivery Status, Square Register, WSJ Live, QuickBooks, PayPal, or iBooks. Check them all here and start your business.