I recently read a post that discussed the iPhones inability to effectively help someone work while on the road. After reading the article I was a bit surprised to find that anyone would actually be disappointed with the iPhone as business device. I mean, it isn’t perfect, but it sure comes close when compared to the competition.

“I attempted to work. I say attempted, because what dawned on me — separated from my laptop, a netbook, or any viable computing system — was that I couldn’t really get much of my work done on Apple’s bundle of joy. It wasn’t the first time I tried to get work done on my phone, but it was one of the first times that I really thought about how frustrating the experience is.” -Joshua Topolsky

I can’t disagree more with the above statement. I am all over the place during the day, and sometimes I am unable to pull out my Macbook Pro. I use my iPhone 3GS to complete quite a few tasks throughout the day and it does the job just fine.

Aside from using the obvious apps: Calendar, Notes and Mail. I have several apps installed that are crucial in helping transform my iPhone into a baby laptop.

WinAdmin – This program is great! I use it to connect to my server at home, I can create/view my invoices using Quickbooks, download torrents and perform almost any other task I would need to on my Windows machine.

FTP on the GO – This is a great FTP program for the iPhone. I use it check files, edit html, php or css on the fly. You can also use this program to turn your iPhone into an FTP server should you need to transfer any files to a local machine via WiFi.

OneDisk – I’m one of those people who subscribe to MobileMe. I don’t use the email service at all. I use MobileMe to sync my Calendar, Contacts and Folders in real-time via “the cloud”. I also have my own personal WebDAV server for other files I like to have access to while on the road. OneDisk gives me the ability to view these folders, download files and email them with little hassle. As long as my Macbook is synced with MobileMe or my WebDAV server I can always access the most recent version of my files from my iPhone.

OmniFocus – I use OmniFocus to manage all of my projects and Tasks. It has a great desktop client and it syncs with MobileMe or any other WebDAV server. It’s a fantastic project management tool and it’s getting better with every update. It also syncs with iCal and incorporates the ability to add http links to files as well as attach them directly to the task.

TweetDeck – Great Twitter client. The best I’ve used to date.

Wordpress – I use this app for my personal site as well as my company website. It’s simple and quick. There are some issues now with the release of OS 3.0, but the Wordpress team are working on a fix for the upcoming update.

1Password – This program is great for keeping track of all of your personal data. Memberships, credit cards, bank cards, logins, etc. The desktop client works seamlessly with OS X and FireFox and the app works great on the iPhone.

RSS Runner – Helps keep me up-to-date. RSS Runner is a free, no B.S. feed app. Works great.

iDownload – Need to download a PDF from Safari? iDownload is the answer!

In my opinion, the iPhone 3GS is a great tool for business users. If you take the time to find the right combination of apps for you, the iPhone does a fantastic job of keeping you working while on the road.

It wouldn’t be fair for me not to list some of the CONS when it comes to the iPhone 3.0. My list is fairly short and I’m hopeful that Apple will address these shortcomings sooner rather than later.

1) Inability to send meeting requests or accept meeting request from the iPhone – this is a must for business users.

2) Single mailbox view. This doesn’t bother me very much, but people migrating from a Blackberry will definitely appreciate being able to see all of their messages in one inbox, should they choose.

3) Status Notifier – When I receive an email, I should see an email icon in the status bar. I shouldn’t have to jailbreak to enable such a basic feature

4) Calendar preview on lock screen.

By no means will the iPhone 3GS ever replace my Macbook Pro, but considering it’s a phone, it’s an unbelievable tool that, in my opinion, remains unrivaled when it comes to PDAs and because of it my productivity when out of the office has increased ten fold.

I’d love to hear what other have to say. Please post your thoughts!

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