New iPod Touch – Business Productivity Tool?

One of the many announcements during this week’s Apple event was the fact that the popular iPod Touch will now come in white, will get the iOS 5 platform, and the price has been reduced to $199 for the entry-level 8 GB version.

Now that sounds all well and dandy for the parent looking to get a gift for their tween… they can download apps that will let them txt message with their friends who are too young to have a full-blown smartphone. Said tween will also be able to play games, listen to music and movies, etc. without destroying their family’s wireless minutes. All in all, at $199 the iPod touch is a great gift, and is now a better value than ever.

But allow me to present another option for the iPod Touch – it can double as an outstanding mobile business productivity device.  That’s right, with the help of the 400,00 titles strong App Store, you can turn a “fun and games” device into a business expense.

If you have WiFi at work or your home-office and know you’ll be able to access it at client’s locations as well, then the iPod touch will be able to do almost everything your iPhone can, minus actually making phone calls. Plus, if you already own a non-Apple smartphone and you’re nowhere near your upgrade date on your wireless contract, shelling out $500-$800 for an iPhone 4 or 4S just to take advantage of some business/productivity apps may not be in the cards fiscally speaking. Wireless plans with data often cost more than $2,000 over the length of a two-year contract, so the $199 iPod touch is a way to get your employees doing more while on the go without adding heavy long-term costs to your business. Looking into the new iPod Touch to take advantage of all these apps may be a good alternative.

So you’re wondering, what kind of apps can I use for my business? Well, you’ve come to the right site, because that’s what Small Biz Go Mobile is all about. For quite some time, we’ve been writing about mobile apps and tips to help you get the most out of your mobile device. But allow me to offer some of my favorite picks:

Evernote – Free note taking app that lets you organize notes, voice memos, images, tasks, documents, lists, website urls and more. You can share your notes with others and sync your notes across all your devices.

Dropbox – Free cloud storage app that lets you upload, sync, backup/restore, folders, files, documents, images and more. You can also share your files by creating accessible links, and sync your content across all your devices linked to your Dropbox account.

TripIt – Free travel organizer app that creates easy to use itineraries from your travel confirmation emails. Forward TripIt any email you get from an airline, hotel, car rental/ground transportation service, and TripIt will automagically create a complete travel itinerary and will also include the weather, maps and other info. about where you’re going.

Documents To Go – One of the best ways to create, edit, and send Microsoft Office documents. Open any of the these files (and many other formats) from an email with Docs To Go, and quickly edit and resend the documents in one app.

Square – The free service that lets you accept mobile credit card payments using your smartphone (or brand-spankin’ new iPod Touch). The Square service, mobile app, and credit card reader are free, in exchange for low credit card processing fees per swipe.

…With the exception of Docs to Go, which clocks in at $9.99, all of the above business/productivity apps are compatible with the iPod Touch and are free, with additional features that let you unlock even more potential available via premium accounts that are pretty reasonable as well. Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg—there are are tens of thousands of team collaboration/project management apps, video chat/conferencing apps, document scanning/PDF creation apps, business card/receipt scanning apps, electronic document signing apps, apps that let you wirelessly print from a network printer, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera – All you need is a WiFi connection. (Do a quick search on this site and you can find most if not all of these apps reviewed in further detail…plug).

So there you have it. The new iPod Touch brings together the functionality of a full-blown iPhone at a fraction of the price. Now you just have to convince your boss you won’t spend of all your time playing Fruit Ninja on it.