iPhone Business Apps

Access a world of information at your fingertips with this pocket-sized version of Wikipedia. Now with more than 10 million articles, iPhone and iPod touch owners can access the entire English database, including search functionality, a back button and support for photos. (Hapton Catlin; $0.99)

Not only does this clever app record your million-dollar ideas or random thoughts when you speak into the iPhone but within a minute or so it will also transcribe your voice notes into text (ideal for e-mail or archiving). While free, a Jott account is necessary. (Jott Networks; free)

MobileChat is an instant messaging app that always runs in the background, so even when in another app, you’re notified immediately when a new message comes in. Even cooler, perhaps, is support for multiple IM clients including AIM, ICQ, .Mac, MobileMe, Windows Live/MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, GTalk, and others. (twenty08; $2.99)

This easy-to-use application is ideal for employees who need to track mileage expenses for reimbursement. Tripper offers simple data entry (including odometer start and stop readings), customizable categories (for multiple clients and billing codes) and a live GPS mileage tracking option that records mileage while you drive. (Stutsman Software; $4.99)

This free app for the iPhone and iPod touch gives you more than 180 million people at your fingertips, including a people and business search, map and directions, reverse phone number look-up, GPS features, and the ability to save listings to your contacts. (WhitePages; free)

It’s no secret the iPhone is missing voice-activated dialing, such as saying something like “Call Home,” but this free app lets you do just that. Simply press the large button and say a person’s name in your contact list, when prompted. (Christopher Hassett; free)

A new iPhone app links customers to Intuit’s popular Web-based small business accounting software. Now you can check current bank and credit card balances, track who owes you money (and who you owe), find customer contact info, and even run balance sheet and profit and loss reports. (While free, QuickBooks Online costs $9.95/month.)

PocketPunchclock makes it a cinch to track the time you spend on different tasks, ideal for professionals who bill by the hour or freelance/contract workers who need to document their time. The software lets you easy stop and start the clock, manage multiple timesheets, records exact time (and with GPS, the location, too) and data can be e-mailed, too. (Arnold Cachelin; $9.99)

Some workers require a little tranquility in order to increase productivity. White noise might help, and Ambiance delivers a couple dozen relaxing sounds to give you the peace of mind you need to get your work done, including rain effects, crashing waves, wind and a crackling fire. (Matt Coneybeare; $0.99)

Rendered to look like a realistic 3D calculator, this classic Reverse Polish Notation (RPN) calculator that features a four level stack, retro dot-matrix display, and 10 storage registers. Common logarithmic and trigonometric functions are supported, as well as more than a dozen conversion routines for weights, lengths, consumption, and more. (Tausendstern; $0.99)