When I last looked (right before finishing this article), over 244,000 applications have been created for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch.
This report is designed to focus on those applications - or apps as they are commonly called - that will help and/or support business researchers.
I kept several things in mind when putting together this list. First, a 2009 report discovered that most of us only use an app a few times before abandoning it (although it may still be on your iPhone), so bells and whistles do not add to usage time. Secondly, researchers specialise in different divisions within a corporation so specialised apps should be identified. Thirdly, most business researchers primarily deal in secondary information. Nevertheless, they might on occasion find themselves in the field. For example, you might be attending a conference or watching how customers interact with your product. Researchers have responsibility for finding, using, managing, and sharing information (sound familiar?), and we must do all of this in a timely manner. Much information in the business world has an expiration date; often, in fact, the faster the right information is delivered to the end user the more chance of the researcher giving her company a competitive advantage. Finally, while I have lots of apps on my iPod Touch, I am just one person; what I like may or may not suit lots of other folks. So I took into account comments by other users on iTunes, commentary and reviews on other websites, and yes - my own experience with the apps.
I judged each app against three simple questions: Is it easy to use? Can a researcher use it to share what she finds on, say, competitive intelligence, with colleagues? Will it allow a researcher to help an internal/external client achieve their goal(s)?
The report is organised by activity: Finding News, Reputation Monitoring, Productivity and Reference. It is based on a screen full of apps because, in truth, the iPhone/iPod Touch is a mobile platform, an adjunct to your desktop or laptop that is useful in extending the reach of your main computer but most likely will never to replace it.
(1) Finding News
Several news sources have built apps just for the iPhone or iPod Touch, and third-party apps that rely on RSS feeds.
Google Reader via MobileRSS Free
MobileRSS Free rocks. Syncing seamlessly with Google Reader, it is intuitive to use, with the incredibly convenient ability within the app to share stories found. As the name suggests, MobileRSS Free is free to use because it is supported by adverts. The $4.99 paid version is ad-free (though I quickly got used to it and therefore stopped seeing them).
If you rely on up-to-date news, Associated Press has a wide-ranging coverage. Start by choosing a geographic focus. Further customise your experience by choosing topics you want to cover. Even the New York Times agrees: 'if you want your news comprehensive, you'll want the AP mobile'.
This app is pretty basic, but it has the benefit of having that great New York Times quality. Perhaps the most useful capability of the app is that you can see what the most popular articles are at any given time, based on how many times it's been emailed. You can also save articles in your own folder or search for articles.
Financial Times (free for 3 articles/month)
The free app is quite good, again showing off quality reporting and writing. You can choose your version (UK, US, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East). You can only view three articles a month; seven if you register. However, even if you ignore the articles, there are some very good tools: you can view a global map of stock indices, check up on currencies and bonds, or use the currency converter. Finally, I know this is a bit shallow, but FT's splash screen for this app was my favourite.
Need global financial information? Bloomberg's app focuses on corporate descriptions, news and financial data, and market analyses. You can drill down from simply getting the current stock price of a company to specific recent and related news, along with market charts. The interface is elegant: for example, you can see a squished market chart, followed by news in the portrait position, but rotating to landscape will result in a detailed, full view of the same chart.
The US government has developed a number of smartphone applications, covering everything from what's happening at the White House (including access to live video feeds of President Obama's appearances) to NASA, and the US Postal Service. You can find the entire listing of apps (and mobile websites) at http://apps.usa.gov/. Also take a look at 'Congress In Your Pocket', an app that lists all US Senate and House Congresswomen and men, along with such information as their voting record and how to reach them.
UKGovernment
Politics is a specialised feed reader that has done the hard work of sifting through hundreds of online political sources. The Feed Directory covers news, tweets and videos issued by 10 Downing Street, political parties, news publications, and blogs. If their extensive directory has missed your favourite political feed, you can add the feed URL very easily. RSS feeds for major news publications are a bit thin, but I suppose they figure you can find them easier than locating the 'Political Hack UK Blog'.
Mashable!
If your position requires you to keep abreast of social media happenings, Mashable's app should be right at the top. This easy-to-use app has several ways of zeroing in on what you're looking for (articles are broken down by Categories, Authors, Tags or Latest tabs) or finding useful information via general browsing. You can easily email or tweet any article from inside the app, and with an Instapaper account (see Productivity), you can extend the app's functionality by saving articles to read later either on your iPhone or online.
(2) Reputation Monitoring
These social media apps will keep you abreast of what others are saying about you and your competitors. Twitter should be in the list of course, but of greater interest are a few nifty apps that extend the power of the platform.
Tweetdeck (free)
Tweetdeck allows you to monitor several Twitter accounts and search terms easily. The layout is clean and easy to navigate. It does not have the tools of Hootsuite, but if you just need to track conversations, retweet anything you find of interest, or respond to customers directly, Tweetdeck is highly efficient.
Hootsuite (free or paid)
Hootsuite combines the ability to monitor Twitter and Facebook together, allowing the researcher to track several potential information sources at the same time. You can write your post, then schedule it to be delivered in the future. You can have multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts, track statistics of who read what when, manage teams and assign tasks to team members.
(3) Productivity
Instapaper (free or paid)
This app is straightforward: you can save any article you read on the web or on your iPod Touch. Originally intended to provide the user with reading when there is no wifi connection, I like to use it as a handy way to keep track of interesting content I come across, whether surfing from my desktop or on my iPhone.
GoodReader (free or paid)
This app has a number of useful productivity features. You can transfer all sorts of files to and from your iPhone, via several methods, including a simple wifi connection between your iPhone and your computer. You can control a Google Docs account, downloading, uploading and deleting files and folders. You can download files from the web. If you have a PDF file, GoodRead has an experimental function that I found worked fine: PDFs can be hard to read online, but this tool actually extracts the text into a more readable format.
(4) Reference
Wikipedia Mobile (free)
Can't get enough Wikipedia? Download Wikipedia Mobile and you'll have the all-purpose encyclopedia at your fingertips, formatted for the iPhone/iPod Touch.
The World Factbook
This app provides detailed information on the world's countries. The categories are extensive, ranging from general background information (including an in-app map and a Google map) to transnational issues. You can bookmark pages, and a search function eases finding specific data.
Dictionary of International Business Terms ($4.99)
This dictionary has an elegant, easy-to-use interface. The features include search, your history, last term viewed, and the ability to share definitions via twitter or email. If you need to define business terms, this app will do.
Conclusion
Tools for researchers are still a bit sparse, but this list will get you started. Although a Freepint survey (http://web.freepint.com/go/newsletter/296) pointed out that most iPhone users are not accessing premium content from their smartphone, it may be time to reconsider that to some degree. Start by checking to see if the services you already subscribe to have iPhone applications. For example, Hoovers and LexisNexis have apps that will let you access your account. Then check out the apps listed above. Finally, try the iTunes search query, and uquery (http://www.uquery.com), a specialised search engine for smartphone applications, both intended to help you find the needle in the 244,000+ app haystack.
These are a few of my favourite research apps. What are yours?
Patrice Curtis provides marketing research, search engine optimisation and social media coaching to the Web, Marketing, Communications and Development functions of businesses and non-profits. She can be reached at pc@curtisresearch.com or visit www.curtisresearch.com.
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When I last looked (right before finishing this article), over 244,000 applications have been created for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch.
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