The iPhone is gaining traction as not only the must have gadget of the year, but also as an effective tool for mobile professionals. Rather than continue gushing about a device that I am forced to love, I will continue to post new stories when I find new ways to justify its value beyond a killer iPod with phone and Web functionality.

Since Apple has refused to offer an SDK (software development kit), I have been somewhat reluctant to believe that the iPhone was going to have a significant impact in the business community. However, my involvement with the Mobility and Productivity track at the upcoming Office 2.0 Conference has me thinking about new ways to use the iPhone while on the road. If you didn’t read the last post, Ismael Ghalimi is giving away 500 iPhones to attendees of the O2O conference, which makes it the first experiment for next gen mobile office functionality.

All applications on the iPhone, aside from what ships with the device, are designed to run from within the Apple Safari Web browswer, the one and only browser available in the iPhone – sorry Firefox.

I scoured the landscape and tested and qualified the best applications currently available for marketing and PR professionals, as well as creating a go to list for all mobile professionals. I’ll run a top list as frequently as necessary, always with the slant towards mobile marketers.

Recommended iPhone Applications:

Expense View is a pretty cool expense application that also allows you to see graphs on the desktop that chart how you are spending your money. The first time you use it, just ignore the huge pie slice allocated to the purchase of the iPhone itself. It’s an investment right?

Twitter hasn’t truly offered an iPhone specific application yet, but go to m.twitter.com from the Safari browswer and you’ll find that it’s fast and easy enough. Hahlo is also an iPhone styled Twitter application. iTweet is a cool app for expediting tweeting without downloading the entire timeline.

iPhlickr is a stripped down version that simplifies and expedites flickr.

iPhogo takes pictures captured on the iPhone and places them in online albums to share with business associates and friends.

iPhone Digg enhances the Digg experience for your device.

iPhonify bring Google Reader to the iPhone.

iPhone Colony is an online community of iPhone users that you can easily navigate from your phone.

iRovr is basically a mobile mix of Tumblr, Pownce and Twitter for iPhone users. In a sense it’s a portable microblogging platform and community.

JAJAH brings users VoIP capability at a fraction of the traditional price, enabling consumers to make free and low cost telephone calls, locally or internationally.

Kudit’s Words Per Minute helps you improve the speed and accuracy of typing on the virtual keyboard.

BeeJive is a multi-IM client similar to Meebo that integrates Yahoo, MSN, AIM, Jabber, and Google.

iZoho Office, an alternative to Microsoft Office.SoonR Talk, a mobile Skype solution optimized for iPhones.

Meebo, an integrated IM client, centralizes chats with Yahoo, MSN, AIM, Google, and MSN buddies.

iActu is a visually rich and interesting headline aggregator of all top newspapers. It gives you a visual representation of each paper and outlet which is is very cool.

iPhone Application Resources:
iPhone Apps
Top 25 iPhone Apps
Lifehacker’s Top 10

Click here for a funny video from Randi Jayne (sister of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg) about iPhone mania based on the Pussycat Doll’s Dontcha.

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Update: iPhoneology reports that more software apps may be on the way.

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