The iPhone can do WHAT?
By Samantha Evans, Intern (@samevans24)
After five weeks at Fusion, I thought I finally knew a thing or two about the latest technologies. I have learned about products that I would have never heard of or understood before and can now define terms and phrases like biometric and internal data security. As far as smart phones go, I actually thought I was up to date with this phenomenon. I was convinced I knew everything there was to know because I own a smart phone, the Blackberry 8830. In actuality, I got my Blackberry long after everyone else and to be completely honest, I can never truly keep up with the newest applications and updates of Apple’s iPhone either.
Due to my inability to stay up to date with the always changing technology world, I have found myself using the ever so helpful NetVibes. NetVibes is an RSS feed equipped with almost every news outlet and even tabs that helpfully break down each news genre, ranging from general to technology to public relations news. In the public relations news tab, I found an interesting blog entitled Communications Conversations. This blog is written by Arik Hanson, president and owner of ACH Communications.
I found Arik’s most recent blog, 7 “must have” iPhone apps for PR pros, to be very informative and interesting. He describes the seven most useful iPhone applications for members of the public relations field to be: Facebook, Google and WordPress, as well as four other applications I have never heard of. These four applications are Tweetdeck, Bump, Evernote and Stitcher. Tweetdeck helps a PR executive monitor their client’s Twitter accounts while being away from the desk.
Get ready for this one– Bump, one of Apple’s newest applications, allows people to exchange contact information by simply having their iPhones touch. Evernote is an app that allows you to take notes or pictures or anything when outside of the office, sync it with your Mac, and it will be available on the computer the second you get back to work. The last app, Stitcher, is compared to Pandora because they both customize audio information. Stitcher does not do so with music, but customizes news programs such as, CNN, NPR, etc. Arik states in this blog, “Imagine creating a content stream of personalized audio (news and information specific to your organization/clients) you could listen to each day on your way into the office. How valuable would that be?”
It remains very clear that the days of internet access being the hippest feature on a cell phone are long gone. All of the iPhone applications are extremely interesting and useful, but at this rate, there will be no need for offices, desks, or any face-to-face or voice-to-voice contact for that matter. I am very curious to see what other applications Apple can come up with and it’s affect on the way we communicate with one another.
Arik C. Hanson, APR
July 6, 2009 at 7:22 pmSamantha–
Imagine my surprise to see you blog come up in my Google Analytics report this morning. All the way from London! Thanks for reading my blog and for the shout.
It's funny you mention being a Blackberry user–I'm in the same boat. Although I recently purchased a iTouch. After playing with that toy for the last couple weeks, I will tell you a Blackberry is now 3rd world technology–and that's not really even stretching it. The apps and Web browsing capabilities on an iPhone/Touch far surpass anything you can do on a Blackberry (at least the Curves and older).
And you're absolutely right, the bevy of new apps out there is truly astounding. And it's changing the way we communicate and counsel our clients every day. It's a tough job keeping up with this rapidly changing technology, but that's what our clients pay us for, right?
Again, thanks so much for the mention. Let's connect on Twitter, too. You can find me at @arikhanson.