Last week Apple showed how serious it is about making the iPhone a business device. The company rolled out a long-awaited software developer kit, announced the iPhone App Store, showed off slick new iPhone games from third-party developers, talked up first-class support for Microsoft Exchange server, pitched security features, and demoed AOL Instant Messenger for iPhone. The VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers even announced a $100M iFund for iPhone/iPod touch entrepreneurs.
Taken together, this leaves no ambiguity as to where the iPhone is on Apple’s priority list. It’s also obvious that there will be a race to develop killer iPhone apps. The Omni Group has announced their first iPhone project will be OmniFocus. I would love to be able to have my GTD (Getting Things Done) app with me all the time, instead of most of the time.
Obviously IM is a welcome addition, even for people who might use it for something other than messaging their classmates in the middle of a boring lecture. But there’s room for many more useful apps. It would be interesting, for example, to see Mori, Circus Ponies Notebook, or OmniOutliner in iPhone form, particularly in conjunction with an iPhone version of TypeIt4Me. Taking shorthand notes in class on an iPhone might be too much hassle, but if the software were implemented properly, it might actually be an improvement. I love my PowerBook, but it does get a bit tricky keeping a casebook open and typing in my laptop, given the dearth of space in classroom seating arrangements.
For lawyers I see one standout advantage of iPhone apps over Mac apps. When you’re talking to a client or engaging with someone else across the table, the laptop screen is essentially a barrier. The iPhone is less intrusive. Will the iPhone ever replace a laptop? Of course not. But with the right apps in place, I could see it being a better tool for many situations where a laptop is overkill.
It’ll be exciting to see what apps developers create for the iPhone. My guess is there will be more than a few surprise apps that take advantage of the iPhone in ways we can’t now predict.
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