Best iPhone Apps for Business Travel

I just got my iPhone 3G and I can’t tell you how big of a crush I have on this little piece of electronic perfection. Forget the day I graduated college and and the day I set foot on Antarctica, this was probably the greatest day of my entire life. Okay, it isn’t that serious, but the 3G has so many fantastic uses for business travelers I don’t see how we made it this far without the device. The only setback? The navigation system doesn’t provide voice prompts.

Calendar: Like any self respecting smartphone, the iPhone will sync with the calendar on your computer to make sure you’re always up to date.

Maps: The built in navigation system can get you where you need to go in your travels, as well as find useful things like a nearby pizza place for lunch. You might miss out on the voice guided prompts, but it will work.

Drivers: The road warriors out there will find this app useful as a log for mileage, gas, service and expenses. It will even send you a reminder 20 days before your next service is due. When you’re finished with your trip, you can email the data to your computer and put it in a handy Excel Spreadsheet.

Folders: If you’re planning on storing a lot of 411 on your iPhone, this application can help you keep it sorted.

JetSet: An expense reporting application that feature 15 separate expense categories and more than 100 subcategories, allowing you to correctly submit your business expenses. You can report expenses for meals, mileage, entertainment and anything else you may encounter in your business travels. The application features a hotel and rental car database you can access, and allows you to store photos of your receipts for future reporting. JetSet works with Google Spreadsheet or Excel.

Sales & Commission: Sales & Commission allows you to track your sales and commission to keep the guys in your accounting department on their toes. Or at least to give you a better idea of what your commission check should look like at the end of each month.

TapeMe Voice Recorder: This app comes in handy on the road when you need to make note of something while driving. Its much safer than trying to type a message in to the notes section. There are several recorders to choose from in the app store.

Yammer: Yammer is a little like Twitter for business. You set up your private Yammer network to keep team members in the loop. The question isn’t “What are you doing?” it’s “What are you working on?”

Stage Hand: Stage Hand is a great tool for those of you who frequently make presentations. You can control your Keynote presentation from your phone, and your slide notes will appear on your phone as a handy reminder.

Salesforce Mobile: Helps you track contacts, sales leads and everything else a good sales person needs. The application is free, provided you’re already using Salesforce on you Mac or PC.

Hey Taxi: This application can score you a cab anywhere in the country. It will provide you with information on the 3 closest companies, response time ratings and contact details.

iTrack: iTrack offers tracking of DHL, FedEx, UPS and USPS shipments. Very important if you’re expecting a shipment to arrive in a given city at the same time you do.

Trapster: Trapster will alert you when you’re approaching speed traps, red light cameras and other sorts of traffic traps. Good for those of you with a lead foot.

Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet offers destination guides for more popular destinations for about $10, with heaps of useful information.

Babelingo: This application will let you translate a phrase in to any number of languages. You can then “show” it to your listener on the screen, rather than trying to pronounce the phase yourself.

There are also a host of other destination specific applications that can make your life easier, like iCaltrain that provides Caltrains’s schedule; Singapore Subway that provides maps for the Singapore Subway and Connecticut Traffic that provides live traffic shots from locations around Connecticut.