Business without borders

Apple’s iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Mobile phones make it easier to do business outside the office. Smartphones are one of the fastinggrowing fields of mobile technology. They’re relatively inexpensive, pocketsized, and have the computing power and storage capacity to perform a variety of small business operations from anywhere.

But there are a daunting array of gadgets, smartphone applications and service providers competing for your attention. How do you weed out what you actually need to get the job done?

Florida Weekly will help you sort out the mobile devices, service plans and applications that can help your business run more easily and efficiently. Now you can take at least one confident step into the mobile computer age, if not a giant leap.

“A smartphone from our perspective is what we’d call a mobile computer,” said Nigel Thompson, CEO of CloudSync, a mobile device management company for small- to medium-sized businesses. “You can create and run applications on them.”

The most popular devices are Apple’s iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Windows Mobile phones. They offer many of the most popular functions of a PC: Internet surfing, e-mail, and, in the last few years, running applications. There are tens of thousands of applications available online for each phone and more created constantly. Many are free or cost only a few dollars, which has led to a surge in popularity.

Schools are also responding to the business opportunities the hot new technology will present for entrepreneurs or programmers. FGCU is planning course to teach students how to produce and sell applications for smartphones.

“Whether it is an iPhone, an Android, or a Windows-based phone, we want people skilled and well-versed enough to develop those apps,” said Steven Bloomberg, executive director of continuing education at Florida Gulf Coast University. “For a larger business. I think it can increase efficiency and effectiveness, and for a smaller business, you can run most of your operations from a phone,”

The Small Business Development Center at FGCU can also consult with owners on how to integrate mobile technology into their game plan.

Judy Pultro, a certified business analyst with the SBDC, relies on her iPhone to remind her of appointments. “If I lost that, I don’t think I’d know where I need to be tomorrow,” she said.

But can there ever be enough tiny phones and apps? Relying on your smartphone too much could be a danger.

“Working 24/7 is one of the downfalls,” Ms. Pultro said.

So is playing 24/7.

“I don’t want to be one of those people who go out with my friends and they’re not even watching the band,” said Steve Best, an employee at Brent’s Music Headquarters. “They’re playing poker on their iPhone. I have friends who don’t pull their heads out of their phone all night long. It’s like a 21st-century umbilical cord.”

And as smartphones grow more similar to PCs, they may also someday soon contend with viruses.

“Because they’re computers and they’re available, we do anticipate you’ll see those sorts of things happening,” CloudSync’s Mr. Thompson said.

Smart phones still don’t have the computing power to replace a PC — not yet, anyway. But that may not be far off.

“I’d say about 40 to 50 percent of the time I’d need a computer, I just go ahead and use an iPhone instead,” said David Acevedo, an artist and co-owner of daas Gallery in downtown Fort Myers. He likes to take pictures of his art and e-mail them directly to clients, as well as use the phone to manage social networking sites.

Applications

The applications are available online, including the Web sites of BlackBerry and Apple, which has more than 10,000 smartphone applications alone.

There are plenty of goofy games to be had for your phone, like one in which you race to create pizza for zombies (topped with body parts). That’s a “staff” favorite, according to Apple’s Web site. But there are also apps that you can use to check accounts payable, even monitor employee productivity and edit Microsoft documents, not to mention make a phone call or respond to e-mails.

There are apps for just about any field. One app, called “Epocrates,” can be used by doctors to look up the side effects of prescription drugs, and calculate a patient’s co-payment based on his or her insurance plan. Another, “Mint,” can be used to manage multiple bank accounts and credit card bills in real time.

Google Maps is a GPS-powered navigational system. DataViz Documentsto Go can run Microsoft Excel, Word, Powerpoint and Adobe PDF files from your phone.

Of course, not every business owner feels the new technology is useful to them.

Brian Chandler, owner of Comics Cards and Stuff in Fort Myers, is content to stick with his old cell phone, which can’t access the Internet. In fact, he doesn’t have a Web site, and has been happily in business since 1993.

“I’m pretty much doing business old school,” he said. “I tend to doubt I’ll get (a smartphone or a Web site).”

But some experts say the new technology could make his life easier. Charly Caldwell II, owner of Internet Services Group of Florida, uses a free smartphone app called Google Analytics to track his clients’ Web site traffic. He helps business owners develop Web sites and utilize mobile technology, instead of relying on word of mouth or the phone book.

“A great example is the Yellow Pages,” he said. “We have a lot of companies that say, ‘I used to get 50 calls per week from the Yellow Pages and now I’m getting two or three calls per week.’ If you really want to keep momentum going, you have to adopt new techniques.”

The major service providers for smartphones are AT & T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless. They have sections on their Web sites under the tab “solutions” that are devoted to business owners’ interests. FGCU’s Mr. Bloomburg said that’s a good place to start your research.

The phones start out at around $100 and go to $500 and up. The new iPhone 3GS starts around $200.

The first step is figuring out which combination of phone, provider and applications fit your business.

“Technology is a tool just like anything else,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “It can be overused or underused. Those who use it correctly, and take their time and research it and understand what it means to their business (will benefit the most).

“What you want to do is match the desired qualities to a particular phone,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “In other words, the iPhone is great, but it may not be great for all users. There is a new Windows Mobile phone that is basically a small version of your PC.” ¦

biz apps

Some of the most popular business applications
for smartphones:
>> Business Card Reader – SHAPE Services
>> Quickoffice Mobile Office Suite – Quickoffi
ce Inc.
>> QuickVoice2Text Email (PRO Recorder)
– nFinity Inc.
>> Property Manager – Being Properties
Documents To Go with Exchange Attachments
(Microsoft Word & Excel editing, Exchange attachments
& Desktop sync) – DataViz Inc.
>> PDF Reader Pro Edition – iTech Development
Systems
>> Scanner Pro – Readdle
>> Recorder Pro – DAVA Consulting
>> PDF Reader Pro – YUYAO Mobile Software
Inc.
>> Currency Exchange Rates Pro – Concrete
Software Inc.
>> Credit Card Terminal – Inner Fence LLC
>> HoursTracker – Carlos Ribas
>> JotNot Scanner for Receipts, Whiteboards,
Business Cards, and Documents
– MobiTech 3000 LLC
>> Recorder – Retronyms
>> CardSnap Lite Business Card Scanner
– Beach House Software
>> iTalk Recorder Premium – Griffin
Technology
>> ProRecorder Premier Voice & Music
Recorder – BIAS Inc
>> ReaddleDocs – Readdle
>> To-Do List – Concrete Software Inc.
>> TourNarrator – a la mode inc.
>> Contact Spy – Razix Software
>> iSSH – SSH / VNC Console – Zinger-Soft
>> SpeakEasy Voice Recorder – Zarboo
Software