Everywhere you look there are iphones being played with in people's hands. They are absolutely everywhere and what’s more, their owners always have look on their face that is a mix of smugness and happiness. They may have good reason for this look though as the iphone is so adaptable they could be doing all manner of things. Updating their Facebook account, looking for directions to the nearest bar, or just playing one of the thousands of games available to the iphone. With so much flexibility and innovation in the iphone, it was only so long before companies started issuing them to their staff as work tools. So why has the iphone been embraced so much by so many companies?

Geo Location. The way the iphone works with Google Maps is almost unparalleled. Other phones and navigation toys use this feature, but not as well as the iphone. You can find directions to a meeting or plan a tour with some journalists for example with a couple of touches of the screen. On top of this, and as long as every agrees, you can track the location of everyone in a group on a worldwide map. This means the device is ideal for companies like haulage or event management firms who need to know where everyone is at any one time. A very new development in mobile technology is ‘augmented reality’. The iphone was one of the first to have an application that allowed users to engage in this technology, with allows people to place virtual tags on a 3D map, that other people can read when they are in the same location. This opens up many doors for companies, including being able to scout out the best places for a new store, to leaving a virtual breadcrumb for customers to their existing store for example. Some companies are even using this for team building events, using geo-tags at various locations instead of orienteering checkpoints. There are no limits to the possibilities.

Apps for Internal Use. Everyone knows that iphone applications can be created by anyone and shared with the world via the ‘App Store’. However, most people think that apps are only for sharing via the app store, and don't know that you can share them within a limited group. One possible internal app might be something as simple as a messaging platform where people can quickly pick up and drop internal notes or memos…this is possible. You can even create an internal app for one touch speed dialling among colleges, which saves a lot accumulative time after a while.

Browsing the Net. If you thought the use of Google Maps was easy, you should see how good the Internet browsing is. This allows people to send and pick up emails much faster and when you just want to browse the net for info, this is much faster also. Also, with the increasing prominence of social media in many companies overall marketing strategy, staff are able to keep up to date with what is being said about the company on sites such as Twitter and Facebook. One thing is for sure though, will all these new iphones around, business insurance premiums are certain to rise.