Android Applications You Can Use for Business
by
on October 29, 2008,
After officially launching Android Market last week together with T-Mobile shipping the very first Android-powered G1 phone, Google has kept the applications market limited to those developers the internet giant worked with after Android Developers Challenge to prepare for the launch of the initial bunch of applications for the first owners of T-Mobile G1 to start downloading for free. On Monday Android Market was opened for all the developers to register and start submitting their own applications.
But still the official Google’s marketplace of applications for the Android mobile platform will remain quite limited for some more time as it is impossible (and will be impossible until some time in the first quarter of 2009) for developers to charge for the applications so all the applications distributed via the Android Market are supposed to be free. This limitation is already visible in the lack of business or productivity applications that G1 phone owners could be ready to pay for.
At the same time a huge advantage of the Android platform is that developers are able to distribute their applications wherever they want to without having to stick to the official Android Market only. So there are already a few alternatives where paid applications have already started to make their debuts. I have decided to browse those stores I myself am aware of and compile a list of business applications for everyone who is looking for productivity tools to use on their new T-Mobile G1 phones. Hope you will find something useful in the list below:
| Application name | Description | Price | Available at |
| iSkoot | Skype functionality on Android-based phones, including SkypeOut calls | Free | Android Market |
| IM+ All-in-One-Messenger | Instant messaging client for AIM, iChat, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, Jabber, Google Talk | $19.95 | Handango |
| EasyTranslator | Application to translate from one language to another, must be useful for frequent international travelers | $5.95 | Handango |
| mShare | Files sharing from mobile to mobile, mobile to computer, or computer to mobile | Free to the first 2,500 users, details on subsequent pricing not available | Handango |
| OI News Reader | Feed reader with a selection of popular feeds and ability to subscribe to random feeds. Offline reading supported. | Free, donations encouraged | OnlyAndroid |
| TooDo | Quite predictably - a to-do application | Free | OnlyAndroid |
| ServerUp | Get instant notifications when your corporate site or blog is down because of a server downtime | $4.99 | Handango |
These application are not numerous but of course it is understandable that these are merely the very first business and productivity applications that only start to emerge for Android and they will soon see competition from established brands in the fields they work in. I believe we will probably see Box.net for example adding its application for files sharing to compete with mShare quoted here, Remember The Milk for to-do lists and tasks management and maybe an Android version of Google Reader to read news as well.
But for now users of the first Android-powered T-Mobile G1 phone will have to stick to the already available free and paid-for applications - even if they are not produced by the market leaders. Besides, the majority of the paid-for applications are available with limited-time free trials so it will not hurt given them a chance anyway.
