The 25 Most Important Mobile Media Apps

This is a guest blog post from Jamie Turner, co-author of How to Make Money with Social Media and chief content officer at the 60 Second Marketer.

If you’re like a lot of people, you’re still trying to wrap your mind around how to use mobile media to connect with customers. You may be thinking, “Great. I finally figured out how to use social media for my business, and now they want me to learn all about mobile media, too.”

I have some good news. Mobile media isn’t all that scary. In fact, the cool thing about mobile media is that you probably know more about it than you think.

With that in mind, I’ve adapted a list of the 25 most important mobile media apps for business. By downloading these apps and using them in your business life, you’ll be on the road to being a smartphone power user . And once you’re a power user, you can start figuring out new and innovative ways to use mobile media to connect with customers.

Sound good?

Great. Here’s a list of the 25 most important mobile media apps for business.

Financial Tools

Bloomberg Mobile : Use this app when you’re on the go and want to access financial news, stock quotes, company descriptions, market leaders and laggers, price charts, market-trends analysis, customized lists of stocks, and more.

CNNMoney : With breaking business stories and complete in-depth market coverage in a customizable format, CNNMoney provides real-time reporting of financial news and analysis, as well as data and charts.

Organizers/Time Savers

1Password : To maintain your usernames and passwords on your iPhone in one place, try 1Password. The mobile app syncs with the desktop version as well. If you wish, you can use it to store other personal information, too, such as your Social Security number and credit card numbers.

Barcode Scanner : Barcode Scanner handles bar codes – including 2D QR codes – and lets you look up the associated product or URL for instant price checks and comparison shopping.

Utilities

Analytics App : Analytics App provides full mobile service for your Google Analytics data. You can check everything from reports to specific data, and the tidy interface makes it even easier to navigate than the web-based service.

Talk To Me : Originally, Talk To Me translated only English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian with its speech-to-speech functionality. Now it has many other languages from which to choose.

Vlingo : Vlingo replaces every instance when you have to type on your smartphone with voice commands. It covers your phone’s basic messaging functions, voice calls, Facebook updates, and personal notes. On Android and BlackBerry, the app will even read your incoming messages to you.

News and Information Applications

ABC News Mobile: This application is for all those who love to be in the know. You can receive text alerts about breaking news, watch video, listen to podcasts, or read articles – all on your mobile phone.

AccuWeather: Downloading the AccuWeather app allows you to view your two-day forecast based on your GPS coordinates.

Google Maps : What would men do without Google Maps? They’d have to ask for directions, which, of course, will never happen. Fortunately, Google invented its Map app for guys (like me) who are too stubborn to stop and ask for directions.

The Huffington Post: The mobile version of this popular news and opinion online newspaper features breaking news, blogs, and original content.

MobiTV: Missing your favorite TV shows is no longer an issue. With MobiTV, you can watch shows whenever and wherever on your mobile phone.

The Weather Channel: The Weather Channel’s app and the mobile version of Weather.com provide up-to-date weather information, text alerts, animated maps, and more.

Shopping

Amazon Remembers : If you’re at a trade show or in a meeting and someone mentions a great new business book, wouldn’t it be great to order it right at that moment? With Amazon’s free mobile phone app, you can order it on the fly. (Shameless plug: If you’re on Amazon looking for books on social media, check out my new book called, How to Make Money with Social Media).

eBay: No need to lose a bidding war because you’re on the go. With eBay mobile, you can search, buy, pay, and check the status of your eBay activity on your phone.

Scoutmob: This web site allows you to send coupons for local stores and restaurants to your phone, which you can then redeem by simply showing the cashier the text message.

ShopSavvy: With ShopSavvy, you can use your phone’s camera to scan any bar code and receive a list of prices and inventory information for the same product at local stores and online retailers, ensuring you get the lowest price every time.

Social Applications

Bump: This is a terrific application that allows you to exchange contact information, photos, social networking information, and calendar events just by “bumping” your phone with another Bump user.

Facebook : You can update your Facebook page on the fly with its mobile version. You can even update your Facebook Places profile, which lets people know where you’re eating, drinking, relaxing, or just hanging out.

Foursquare : Ready to “check in” to your favorite restaurant, bar, mall, or retail store? If you do it enough, you’ll become Mayor or be eligible for discount coupons.

Gowalla: Much like Foursquare, Gowalla allows you to share your location with friends, all the while accumulating digital souvenirs that may be redeemable for real-life rewards.

LinkedIn : Ready to exchange LinkedIn contacts just by bumping your phone? Or perhaps you want read someone’s profile while you’re waiting for them at a restaurant. If that sounds enticing, then this application is for you.

Twitter : You don’t have to be sitting behind a desk to update your Twitter status. The mobile version lets you stay connected wherever you are.

Productivity

CamCard : CamCard lets you scan business cards and automatically add that information to your phone’s contact list and/or your Outlook or Gmail account.

Evernote: After you create a text note, photo, or audio note, you can synch them to your PC or to the web.

Do you agree that these are the most important apps for business? What other mobile apps do you use for business?

Image credit: generaly