Apple iPhone for Business

On Tuesday, Apple announced the latest iteration of their innovative and record-setting smart phone, the iPhone 4S. Along with the new iPhone, Apple is releasing a new version of their mobile operating system, iOS. While these updates represent outstanding improvements in an already great product for consumers, there are a lot of benefits for businesses as well.

1. Twitter Integration

The new iPhone (and all older iPhones that upgrade to iOS 5) will have Twitter integration. This means that iPhone users will connect their Twitter account once, in the settings, and then be able to Tweet from various apps and websites without having to sign in again.

Businesses that include Tweet buttons on their website or articles will have an easier time getting mobile visitors to share their content.

Business owners can now use their iPhones to share news items, posts, pictures and video even easier than before.

2. Faster Performance

The iPhone 4S features the Apple A5 processor for dual-core processing and dual-core graphics. It also features an improved dual antenna system that stabilizes and improves voice and data connections. The 4S boasts download speeds of 14.4MBps which is considered 4G.

This faster performance means that business owners and employees can utilize the iPhone for even more efficient internal and external communication.

For instance, business owners can use their iPhone to log into their website and make changes, post new content, view reports, update product pricing, and more. Stadia Studio customers who have received a Drupal CMS can use blogging apps to post new blog posts directly from their iPhone.

3. iCloud

iCloud refers to the collection of apps and features that will utilize Apple servers to store and transfer data. It includes iTunes, Photos, Documents in the Cloud, App Store, Books, Backup, Calendar, Mail, Contacts, Find My iPhone and Find My Friends.

Businesses can use iCloud to share documents, images and music files. Perhaps more importantly, devices that share the same account are all updated automatically, so a change made on one device will automatically, and wirelessly, appear on all your other devices.

As usage grows, we believe Apple with come up even more innovative uses of the cloud.

4. iMessage

iOS 5 includes a completely revamped Message system. Owners will be able to use iMessage to send not only text messages, but also instant messages to any other iPhone or iPad owner who is connected. This means that, if you're messaging an iPhone owner, the messages will not count against your text quota. Businesses whose employees use a lot of text messages for internal communication could save quite a bit off their monthly bill.

Additionally, iMessage saves conversations and will update all your devices. You can switch to your iPad and pick up a conversation where you left off. More importantly for businesses is probably the fact that they'll be able to refer back to these conversations from any device later on. Suppose you're using iMessage to discuss a project with an employee while you're at a meeting. When you get back to your office, you can call up the conversation on your iPad and finish editing the document you'd been discussing, referencing the conversation as needed.

5. Siri Voice Activation

Perhaps the most compelling update is called Siri. Siri is a personal assistant that responds to your voice. Siri can be used to answer and make calls, read and respond to messages, check and set calendar appointments, and more. Watch this video:

Siri represents a tremendous time saver for business owners, and the potential for much, much more. Siri is far more intuitive than older voice recognition programs we've played with previously. For instance, to find out what the weather is like right now, in the past you might have had to use a very specific command, like, "tell me the weather." Now, you can ask more conversational questions, like, "do I need an umbrella today?"

Business owners will be able to use Siri to dictate messages and posts, and could even use Siri to post new blog entries and updates to their websites. it seems reasonable to expect that Siri integration will only get better and better in time.