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10 iPad 2 apps for business

by ZDNet Author  |  April 5, 2011 8:43am PDT  |  Image 1 of 11

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FaceTime

The second generation of Apple's iPad tablet is thinner and lighter than its predecessor, with a more powerful dual-core processor boosting graphics and processing power. It also adds front- and rear-facing cameras - extending Apple's FaceTime videoconferencing feature to the iPad, as shown above.

Silicon.com's Natasha Lomas checks out whether other apps make the most of the iPad's hardware. Click through the following pages to see our round-up of 10 business-friendly apps for the iPad 2.

Photo: Apple

See full coverage of Apple's iPad 2

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No authentication or integration?
itchto Updated - 8th May
Business apps really aren't business apps. They help the end user conduct business, but they aren't true business apps that funnel data to the company.
http://www.itch.to/2012/01/apps-are-leaving-business-world-behind.html
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
rhonin 6th Apr 2011
Read this and have to say you must be looking for a very generic business set.
My company is currently evaluating the iPad 2 with more of a look to iWorks, email, cloud and other services / apps.
(fyi - having mem issues with larger files in iWorks apps)

In regards to your list and my world.....


Facetime - tried via the i4 and found it was pretty lame

Skype - don't use it

Webex - business has moved to Communicator

Fuze - don't use it

Boardbooks - moved to Sharepoint

Google Earth - don't use it

Word Lens - tried this in PR. didn't work so well

Hootsuite - don't use this

iMovie - not in my business

Popplet - don't use it

GarageBand - maybe for playtime?

Overall - not exactly what I picture as business apps, but areas do differ.

wink
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
jcolsonpa 6th Apr 2011
I have to agree, these are not business apps and I don't use most of them. Facebook is the only one and that's strictly for personal things at this time.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
tachlees 6th Apr 2011
@rhonin We use 00v00 and are very happy
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
Schoolboy Bob 6th Apr 2011
@rhonin

Agreed. These are not business apps.

How about time entry to a back end system. Or document management. Citrix. Robust email (Outlook, Lotus Notes). Etc. These are business apps.

We often develop applications in house. I don't think this platform lends itself to this. If we were going this route, the ipad would need to have robust browser support because that would likely be our only avenue for custom apps.
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Maybe it's just the wrong platform
Bit-Smacker 6th Apr 2011
@Schoolboy Bob
I agree. Just because you use it at the office, doesn't mean it's a business app.

I'm interested to see what's possible with the new BlackBerry Playbook, since it will have a direct line to the corporate LAN via the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. That's going to be important for tablet-based business apps.

If Apple cares about enterprise adoption, they need to provide a similar internal access gateway server to pass through user authentication for enterprise application access. Nobody want to screw around with establishing a VPN connection and then logging into an internal application just to check status on an internally-hosted management dashboard. The "cloud" is still untrusted by many and BES has provided a transparent way to access on-premises corporate data without the hassle of additional connection conduits and authentication steps.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
rhonin 6th Apr 2011
@Schoolboy Bob
true.... our evaluation rival is the Xoom.... not perfect but looking better in terms of productivity apps and custom requirements.....

plain
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Amen!
Gr8Music 6th Apr 2011
@rhonin - No one will even take credit for writing this! If you have an iPad and attend business meetings, you may want to look at QuickAgenda. Anyone else know of a good BUSINESS app???
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
rhonin 6th Apr 2011
@Gr8Music
Have to take a look - thx!
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
steellis Updated - 9th Apr 2011
The following are some of the apps I use for business work.

ithoughts
DropBox
Evernote
Toodledo
MeetingRec
LogMeIn
VMware View
WebEx
LastPass Tab
SG Project Pro
PrintBureau
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
podperson Updated - 6th Apr 2011
@rhonin given that zdnet seems mostly to produce linkbait articles claiming the iPad is irrelevant to business and a toy, you can't really expect much insight into the iPad in business terms.

There are a lot of very useful business apps on the iPad, and far more useful -- even generally useful -- apps than the ones mentioned (VNC clients would seem like an obvious "must have", but it's hard to simply pick one and call it The One; how about Square's app for small business?)
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
Jeff Tyler 6th Apr 2011
@rhonin I agree. Let's look at the serious apps lile the use of Numbers, Pages, Keynote, and the Serious Genius products like SG Project. Now we're talking business apps. happy
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
steellis 9th Apr 2011
Another vote for the SG line of products. I am using SG Project Pro to show a high level view of my teams current projects.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
cwtewks 6th Apr 2011
@rhonin have to agree mostly with this comment - too many of the same type of apps and I don't see all but WebEx and Hootsuite as real "business" apps.
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These ARE business apps to the typical Apple user
dgurney Updated - 6th Apr 2011
Apple apologists are (like Apple) so removed from the real world that they believe these are "business" apps. Which is why they see no problem with the way Apple cripples these handheld Unix computers to the point of uselessness.

The lack of legitimate I/O and a user-accessible file system on iOS devices pretty much relegates them to toy status. Apple didn't learn anything from the failure of DRM on music. Making these devices' capabilities accessible to developers and serious applications would make them useful for a vast new array of purposes, and have absolutely no negative effect on current uses and users.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
robertleeking@... 6th Apr 2011
@dgurney

No, they are not. Business apps would include things like word processor, spreadsheet,communications, drafting, graphic arts and general accounting tools. These apps exist and in most cases work very well.

There is no need for external device connection on a fully portable device like the iPad, those connections are only needed by the tech community and hackers not the average business user who doesn't even store data on their local computer anyway.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
rhonin 6th Apr 2011
@robertleeking
No, they are not. Business apps would include things like word processor, spreadsheet,communications, drafting, graphic arts and general accounting tools. These apps exist and in most cases work very well

Sorry Robert, can't agree with that. One of our biggest challenges is the use of these so-called "business apps" on the iPad and iPad2. These work great for simplistic documents but as you start adding in complexity and size they quickly fail. Not to mention the memory issues we are running into, especially with Keynote and Numbers - ouch! And mention one of these to our Finance folks (fyi - I'm an engineer) and they have a conniption fit due to the lack of "decent" financial or spreadsheet software.

wink
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
lelandhendrix@... 6th Apr 2011
@dgurney Apple didn't learn anything from the failure of DRM on music? Apple didn't want it there in the first place, the STUDIOS demanded it. And Apple's iTunes was one of if not THE first major store to eliminate it.

I'm not apologizing for anything, just want to make sure the facts are right. The context is certainly not.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
jeremychappell 6th Apr 2011
@dgurney Err, it was Apple that wanted to drop DRM from music (and did so as soon as the music studios allowed it).

This list doesn't really represent my use of the iPad as a business tool. Also a lot of such a list is hampered by not being about to include the built-in apps... I mean, who'd miss email off the list? (Oh yeah, RIM with the PlayBook...)
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
steellis 9th Apr 2011
I think too many sales people try to sell tablets as replacements to a laptop. There not! I am sitting here typing on my laptop with external Monitor, USB encrypted drive, YubiKey, USB mouse. It is not as portable as my tablet but the work I do on a tablet is not all the tasks of my core job. It is a challenge to work with a laptop on the train (or anywhere else without access to a large monitor), hence the tablet fits a niche of quick access. It boots fast and takes up less room espcially when standing email, web, notes and a few business apps I have found that will share data with my laptop programs.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
jack2029 5th Jul
@dgurney

best ipad 2 apps: ipad2-apps.iresort.biz
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nice spam attempt
dgurney 6th Apr 2011
Shove it in where you can, I guess.

And yes, that IS what she said.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
caseyj2222@... 6th Apr 2011
@rhonin

I love this quote about Google Earth: " take a virtual turn around your ski resort and get to know the key locations of your next business trip."

?? Business trip?? I'm in the wrong business!
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
rhonin 6th Apr 2011
@caseyj2222@...
Any business trip worth the money needs to include "down time".... skiing anyone?

grin
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
shoebaccaMS 6th Apr 2011
@rhonin
Fuze allows you to connect using Communicator/Lync

Popplet Lite is free. Check it out, it's pretty cool. You'd be surprised at how great it is. There's another app called MindMeister (I think it's $8 but it has a web version for 3 free mindmaps)--you might want to check that one out.

I don't really like the iWork apps that much. The QuickOffice HD app costs $15 and has PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint support in one app. I also use DropBox.

"WhiteBoard Share" is a cool iPhone app (which would be good on iPad 2) that lets you take a pic of a whiteboard and email it. The cloud service that runs behind it cleans up the image so it's a much better quality image before emailing it.

One last thing is Zite. It allows you to customize your news, which I think is key in business. Knowing what bloggers provide valuable content is important.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
man_strosity 6th Apr 2011
@rhonin

Office 2010 Communicator is now Lync, and it is the business!

What's an iPad?
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
jeremychappell 6th Apr 2011
@rhonin Yeah, kinda left me scratching my head too. A better list would probably be:

Pages
Numbers
Keynote
Things
Bloomberg
VNC
FileMaker Go or Bento
OmniGraffle
iDisk or DropBox
FT Mobile Edition

And if you'll let me slip in GoodReader that makes my list officially too long for 10... (oops!)
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
bojanwojan 6th Apr 2011
@rhonin

Yes agree with you, these are not business apps. Where is Pages, Keynotes etc

What works very well for iPad to be a business tool is to get iPad to run remote desktop apps then connect it back to you office back end to run the Windows business apps ! That way u get the advantage of iPad with standard Windows business apps

You may use the following software to accomplish that

http://www.wyse.com/products/software/pocketcloud/iphone/index.asp

http://www.aikotech.com/thinserver.htm
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
tomeedu 26th Jul
@rhonin Sure!
These apps are not for business, are for all people, Why dont speak about really business apps? Like "Balanced Scorecard for iPad" , "Roambi", "Business Model Toolbox",...
business intelligence apps that helps our companies to control indicators, business plan, strategy,....
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
blothe@... 6th Apr 2011
All of this iPad stuff is useless until they start shipping them again.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
rjkeir 6th Apr 2011
As per Rhonin's.

Business Apps? Really?

wink
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Not business apps
haugens 6th Apr 2011
@rjkeir
My sentiments exactly!!
I mean, who uses Twitter or garage band for their business?! This takes the cake ZDNet!

Perhaps using one of the video conferencing apps instead of a telecon might be productive if you HAVE to see their face, but usually a business meeting focuses on the business, not the person. Using gotomeeting.com where you can share computer screens is FAR more useful.
I will admit that a pro photographer friend of mine gets good use out of his iPad because he can run a killer video and slideshow while he talks to clients. He can let them browse his web site effectively and all that, but the contract is a hard document and he still needs a PC to do the rest of his business. He is selling himself, so it makes sense to have some sort of technology to show off his wares.
If you are not in outside sales with a product that shows well on the web or an artist the iPad is a non-starter for business if this is the best there is.
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our original sits in a drawer
bnordberg 6th Apr 2011
We bought an original ipad to test with our electronic medical record. That did not work. So we tried Citrix - that was terrible. Email was better on my phone. We found web browsing to work just fine. So now it sits in my file drawer - unused during the work week. Sometimes one of us takes it home for the weekend. Otherwise it was a no-go for our business. Don't think making it any faster is going to help.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
schtickla 6th Apr 2011
@bnordberg I use citrix everyday on the ipad and it works great. Surprised that no citrix products (reciever, gotomeeting, gotomypc) wernt mentioned. especially since they are on the top downloads list for business apps.
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Medical records
Braizyn 6th Apr 2011
@bnordberg

Several of the docs in our practice use their iPads (both first and second) gen. To access medical records, they use a VPN client to access the practice network, and thus our EMR. The iPad is much more convenient when meeting with patients.
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You can easily front end your Medical records with the iPad
BeEffective 6th Apr 2011
@bnordberg We have developed iPad sites that do this with other corporate systems (like medical records).
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
disy2@... 6th Apr 2011
not in my business
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
dan.austin@... 6th Apr 2011
hahahah lol roflmao lpl hahaha What business are you in??? Quite obviously, no real USEFUL business applications on this list except MAYBE WebEx, if your company happens to use it. How about some useful Excel capable apps, reporting tools, SAP front end, you know, something PRODUCTIVE!

LOL hahahahah. At least I got a good laugh today.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
bartbox.news@... 6th Apr 2011
@dan.austin@...
I totally agree! Maybe an article about ten ways to wash your underpants would have been more interesting.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
StanislavF 6th Apr 2011
@awel.news@... Cute. Maybe wash your underpants with an iPad happy.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
rhonin 6th Apr 2011
@StanislavF...

More likely an instructional video on skid mark removal.....

grin
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
prof123 6th Apr 2011
@dan.austin@...
you people are so brainwashed by MS that you have no idea what productive means.

I have seen end users spend 50% of their time formatting documents so they "look" nice. Appearance is more important to them than content.

I have seen end users spending hours in Excel on a VLOOKUP function. It never occurred to them that there are other ways to achieve what they want, and much quicker.

Not a fan of MS productivity tools...
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Watched 2 hours spent on text coloring in Word!
greggwon@... 8th Apr 2011
@prof123
As a contractor, I spent some time in one of my customers facilities working on development of a status monitoring system for some network connected devices (non SNMP capable). We worked for a couple of hours in a cube one day looking over the equipment and making a plan of how to do what was needed. The entire time, 3 women were working together trying to make some text be in a specific color for a Word document. They knew it was possible, but had no idea how to do it. I just smiled the whole time wondering why, since I could hear this going on, no one else did and went to help them get that taken care of. Some things like that flexibility just waste more time than they provide in value.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
BB9193 6th Apr 2011
I am still waiting as well for someone to show me why I should be using the iPad for Enterprise. I have yet to be convinced. Just about everything listed above can be done in some manner with a regular laptop.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
RJCad 6th Apr 2011
@BB9193
Marketing tool and wow factor. It would be like Having a BMW and not a VW... Presenting yourself to others and making a wow factor or a "BANGING first impression" is half of a sale or presentation. A Windows Laptop takes time to load, login and open an application if it does not crash in the process.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
chrischeek@... Updated - 6th Apr 2011
@RJCad Marketing and Wow? As in "Wow, I can't believe I just listened to this lame sales pitch?"

Would you be impressed by these "business" apps?

Hey look at this shiny coin...sign here.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
haugens 6th Apr 2011
@RJCad
Would you seriously consider going into a business meeting without your laptop already booted and loaded with your presentation?

Come on, that is just stupid. Anyone with ANY sense arrives early and has their tools ready when the customer gets there. To do otherwise proves that you don't deserve the account in the first place.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
StanislavF 6th Apr 2011
@BB9193 Some of don't equate BUSINESS to strictly SALES CALL. Business meetings when I was an executive included quick research, followup on the fly, emailing/IM'ing for a collegue to get into the meeting and help, editing and note taking, on the fly re-arranging of a presentation for when we presented to the board of directors, or to other executives ... and that was just meetings. BUSINESS includes to me the ability to build the business, not just a sales meeting, or the final presentation.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
Graham Ellison 6th Apr 2011
@BB9193 That's not the point. Or rather it is if you put it this way: Just about everything listed above is currently done with a regular laptop, but can be done on a iPad.

The question is: Why would you use a regular laptop - if you didn't have to?

But I fear your definition of 'regular laptop' and my definition of acceptable laptop will be miles apart. The idea of turning up to a business presentation with a laptop that cost $500 is in my view abhorrent.

My personal dilemma is not between a regular laptop and iPad 2, or even between my current laptop [MacBook Pro - definitely not a regular laptop] and iPad 2. It's between iPad 2 and MacBook Air [also definitely not a regular laptop], and I'm not alone as the recent boost in sales has indicated.

This decision will become harder if they replace the backlit keyboard in the MacBook Air.

And these sales results pose two even more interesting questions. If iPad and iPad 2 aren't cannibalizing the MacBook Air market [the opposite appears to be possibly the case], what will iPad 3 do?

What will iPad 3 need to include to make a significant difference?

How big IS the tablet market? We know it was 17 million last year, of which Apple had 90% with 15 million units sold.

According to DigiTimes, Apple's manufacturing partners provided the company with approximately 2.4-2.6 million iPad 2 units during the month of March.

Apple also appears to be ramping production for the second quarter, with the report claiming a "conservative estimate" of 4.0-4.3 million iPad 2 units per month for total shipments of over 12 million during the quarter.

As I predicted, iPad 2 sales are running at a faster rate than the original iPad, and Apple took delivery of 2.4-2.6 million units in March.

Based on a conservative estimate, Apple is likely to take delivery of 4-4.3 million units a month, or a total of over 12 million units, of iPad 2 tablets in the second quarter.

This translates to a very easy achievement of my other prediction that iPad 2 will do 30 million during 2011.

Assuming the market [for new tablets alone] doubled in 12 months, this means that the market is now 34 million. So it's obvious the iPad is appealing to someone... and many of those someones are likely to be in the enterprise.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
jeff.fostermedia@... 6th Apr 2011
@Graham Ellison
Well stated. I think Apple will build around enterprise uses in ways that 3rd party developers will notice. Plus, whatever is made on copycat tablets will be design for a huge iOS market.
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RE: 10 iPad 2 apps for business
deanknowles 6th Apr 2011
What a useless waste of time this "compilation" was! As an Apple sceptic, turned iPad user (mainly for uni, and I like its portability) I am UNDERWHELMED by the vast gap between business apps and business potential! How about a decent calendar/PIM that syncs with Outlook? That would be a start. And yeah, webex maybe, but the rest is "toy" stuff
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No authentication or integration?
itchto Updated - 8th May
Business apps really aren't business apps. They help the end user conduct business, but they aren't true business apps that funnel data to the company.
http://www.itch.to/2012/01/apps-are-leaving-business-world-behind.html

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