But there is one place where Apple took the ball and ran with it, a place where not only did they revolutionize the mobile phone, but change the fundamental nature of software distribution: the App Store. To use an Army expression, the App Store is a "force multiplier." It took the existing iPhone platform, already a powerful, portable personal computer in its own right, and increased its utility exponentially. Yes, third-party software was available for smart phones and PDAs of yore. Palm Computing was rife with expansions. But never before has software browsing, purchasing, and installation been so easy, so effortless, so tempting. And at prices generally as low as 99-cents, a lot of basement millionaires have been made, and a lot of people have been helped on the go.Evernote ranks as one of the most useful apps on the market. Part notepad, part voice memo recorder, part document storage service, Evernote allows users to organize and manage ideas and information. Browsing a website and want to save a bit of text or a photo? (Or the entire site?) Paste it into Evernote. Have PDFs or Microsoft Office documents that you need to access from anywhere? Upload it to the Evernote servers. See something at the store that you want to remember to purchase later, or research online? Take an Evernote snapshot.
Evernote is designed to read and search though this mountain of data. There are Windows, Mac, and web clients available, in addition to the iPhone app, and Blackberry and Palm versions. The app price: free. The online component is also free for the first 40 megabytes per month (which amounts to 20,000 notes or 400 pictures). Expansion, in the unlikely event that the quota is reached, runs $45 a year.
Facebook, the social networking site once confined to college campuses and now reaching into nursing homes and daycares alike has a top-notch app available. It fully supports the service, to include mail, chat, and the newsfeed. It allows for friend and request management, and enables photos and video taken on the iPhone to be uploaded directly to the user's profile. The price: free.
mSecure is a password management app that stores user logins and passwords behind 256-bit encryption. (Using brute force methods, it would take a hacker upward of two hundred years to crack the program.) It also conveniently stores and sorts credit card, banking information, flight numbers and even clothing sizes. The app runs $2.99, and includes a free backup utility that saves your data to a thumb drive in the event of a catastrophic data loss, like, say, you drop your iPhone in the toilet on the same day you spill a cup of coffee on your computer. (Trust me, it happens.)
iFitness is a personal fitness app that allows users not only to build and manage workout schedules, but also keep a running log of progress. Featured in the app is a full database of exercise demonstrations (with photographs of each workout position) to maximize routines and enhance performance. Like health club memberships, this is an app I bought, but generally just gaze longingly at while eating doughnuts and watching television. iFitness costs $1.99.
There are now 75,000 programs in the App Store. I've listed a few that I use daily, but whether your needs are travel, games, or money management, the software is there, and you are only a few swipes away from turning your iPhone into a workhorse computer.
Evernote: http://www.evernote.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com mSecure: http://www.msevensoftware.com/msecure.html iFitness: http://medicalprod.com/ifitness.html
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