last week around this time I installed the 2.0 software upgrade on my iPhone. I have been an iPhone owner since it was first made available about this time last year and since then I have been extremely satisfied with the experience. Installing the iPhone 2.0 upgrade and adding some free applications have taken the experience to the next level. Before now I have been pretty forgiving of some shortcomings because the fact that I could do so much with with a device I can carry in my pocket from making phone calls, listening to music and podcasts, looking up information on the Internet, getting driving directions, sharing photos with friends and family and keeping track of my schedule. Great stuff and the thing that makes the iPhone and as well as the “phoneless” iPod Touch is the easy to use interface.

Even before upgrading the iPhone software I mentioned in a previous post of how easy it was for me to log into Amazon.com and comparison shop and save money on I book I needed. Now I have been able to do things that to put it bluntly, make more sense when one is mobile and not tied down to desktop or laptop computer.

What has really gotten me excited beyond what I already enjoy are the following applications;

• Facebook iPhone app - Great and unclutter way to keep up with your facebook friends
• Bible by YouVersion - Many versions and easy to navigate - needs an Internet connection to use
• NetNewsWire - An RSS reader that can sync with an online site
• Exposure - a great way to connect with your flickr photo sharing account
• Evernote - love the concept - still has a few bugs that need to be addressed but great for text, photo and voice note taking
• AIM - iPhone version of the AOL Instant Messaging program
• YPmobile - More than a “yellow pages” for your phone. Also shows locations of business based on your current location and upcoming events in your area using the iPhone location services.
• Remote - An application that let’s you access and control the media on your computer (running iTunes) or Apple TV over a local wireless network
• Pandora - listen to streaming music based on your music tastes. Now that this is mobile it’s going to be a serious threat to terrestrial radio.
• AOL Radio - similar to Pandora but a different mindset for finding music and other radio stations online

I still have quite a few other applications I have heard about and intend to test and these are only the free one. One application we are really excited about for our business is Outpost. Outpost will allow us to manage out projects in the online service called Basecamp which I highly recommend for small business owners managing projects for multiple clients. Another application that I am looking forward to getting is 1Password. I have a different password for everything and most are complex to say the least. This will be welcome and in my opinion should have been an iPhone feature from the beginning. I still hope to see a cut and paste feature in the near future. Apple is supposed to be working on that but other things have been higher on their “to-do list.”

Because most of these are third party application my iPhone has “crashed” or frozen up more. That’s always a risk when third party solutions are added to the mix no matter what the platform is but so far those glitches have been minor and the benefits have far outweighed any problems.

The thing that stands out to me more than anything with these iPhone applications or web site optimized for the iPhone is they are extremely easy to use and not cluttered. That inspires me to consider how we design sites for our clients and options we can provide for mobile users. Are you an iPhone or iTouch user? Are you using the new software and have downloaded new applications? What gets you excited and feel has solved some problems by giving you these tools to use in the mobile space?

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 19th, 2008 at 11:06 am and is filed under Innovation, Portable Media, Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.