Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The Best iPhone App of the Week

What do Digg, Microsoft and Beaver Creek Consulting have in common? They all have iPhone Apps that made it to the Best iPhone Apps list created by Business Insider. I have been following this list for years and I was especially excited to see these awards come out.

I found it fun to see because it mirrored what I have been saying at speaking engagements over the past several years: The power of the Internet gives smaller companies the ability to compete against large titans. This is unprecedented and changes the landscape that humans have come to know over their lifetime. With the Internet as the distrubtion channel, it levels the playing field allowing companies to no longer need the capital for a large retail store or other overhead costs.

The list of best Apps included Digg which is one of the biggest social bookmarking tools. As people discover content that they like, they can submit these links to Digg and allow other voters to vote the stories up or down. Digg's popularity has prompted the creation of other social networking sites using this same voting system. Digg's latest iPhone app made the best App list since it allows users to do everything that they are used to doing from their iPhones or iPod Touch devices.

Similarly, Microsoft's Bing is a search engine which competes with the powerhouse, Google. Their new App not only allows for search, but also provides easy copy/paste capability; bookmarking and keeps search history. As people are moving away from the computer and are doing more from their Smartphones, this handy App is poised for success.

Finally, a software company, Beaver Creek Consulting has made this list along with these powerhouses. Their iPhone App, Food Essentials Scanner, allows you to use your iPhone App at the grocery store to scan barcodes on food products. These guys have provided iPhone users the ablity to actually have a scanning device with the use of their phone! Not only is this a fun thing to own, but you can now find out more information about food than what is provided in the nutritionial label. This is completely unprecedented and may just change the way that people shop.

I am excited to incorporate this list of companies who have produced the Best iPhone Apps into my talks. Beaver Creek Consulting - my hat is off to you. Your App proves my point - that small players, with the advent of the Internet, can sit alongside with the Microsoft's of the world!