iPhone for Work: Increasing Productivity for Busy Professionals (Books for Professionals by Professionals) [Paperback]

Ryan Faas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 29, 2009 | ISBN-10: 1430224452 | ISBN-13: 978-1430224457 | Edition: 1

The iPhone is cool, and the iPhone is fun, but the iPhone also means serious business. For those of you who bought your iPhones to help get your lives organized and free yourselves from the ball and chain of desktop computing, iPhone at Work: Productivity for Professionals is the book to show you how.

There are plenty of general-purpose iPhone guides, but iPhone at Work: Productivity for Professionals shows you how to complete all the traditional smartphone tasks, like to-do lists, calendars, and e-mail, and become much more efficient and productive at work. You'll learn mechanisms for developing effective workflows specific to the features of the iPhone and also efficient strategies for dealing with the specialized aspects of business and professional lifestyles.

From the introduction and throughout the book, author Ryan Faas targets professional users of the iPhone. You'll tour the built-in applications and configuration options, always with work and productivity in mind, and discover all of the enterprise features of the iPhone, learning how to configure and use each one.

Then discover the App Store: source of all third-party software. There's something a bit daunting about the dominance of games and frivolous apps on the best-seller lists, but there are serious business and vertical applications also available, and you'll learn about some of the best and how to take advantage of this wealth of add-on and very professional functionality.

And for those administrators with the special job of deploying lots of new iPhones across the enterprise, this book concludes with two appendixes that provide information and resources for companies. The first is intended for organizations looking to perform larger-scale iPhone or iPod touch deployments complete with device management. The second is geared for those companies that wish to develop an iPhone platform–oriented infrastructure through the use of customized in-house applications and iPhone/iPod touch–specific web services.

What you’ll learn

• Purchase and configure an iPhone specifically for business
• Integrate built-in iPhone platform features into an everyday professional workflow
• Access enterprise-wide data and computing features
• Pick up specific tips for different professions
• Deploy the iPhone platform across groups both large and small
• Discover the secrets of iPhone platform customization and personalization

Who this book is for

You already have or are considering the purchase of an iPhone. You know it's the coolest smartphone around, but you actually want to use it to make your professional life more efficient, more productive, and more fun! Clearly, the iPhone has inherent uses for a broad range of professions including management, sales, medical/dental, legal, real estate, training and education, human resources, and information technology, so there are many of you. Some of you are novice mobile device users, others are highly experienced mobile pros. No matter, because every professional iPhone user across this continuum of experience wants to learn to work smarter, better, and more efficiently. This book shows you how to use your iPhone to do this.

Table of Contents

1. Buying and Activating Your iPhone
2. Using Your iPhone for the First Time
3. Getting Online
4. Phone Home (Or Work, Clients, or Anyone Else)
5. Texting and Media Messaging for a Living
6. E-mail
7. Calendar
8. Contacts
9. Microsoft Exchange and ActiveSync
10. Photos and Video
11. Web Browsing with Mobile Safari
12. Getting Around Using Maps
13. iPod and iTunes
14. The Remaining Built-In Apps
15. Understanding iPhone Applications and the App Store
16. General Business Applications
17. Apps for Specific Professions

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ryan Faas has been writing about Apple technology for over a decade, covering everything from introductory topics for new users to business solutions to in-depth systems and network administration. He received a Neal national business journalism award for his work on Computerworld's ""Week of Leopard"" series, which covered the launch of Apple's revision of Mac OS X in 2007.

Beyond writing about technology, Ryan has worked as a systems administrator for multiplatform networks in both the education and private sectors. He continues to offer technology consulting and custom training services to organizations looking to implement Apple technology as part of a broad IT strategy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (October 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430224452
• ISBN-13: 978-1430224457
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.7 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,820,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #78 in Books > Computers & Technology > Apple > Home Computing & How-to > iPhone

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars A decent general introduction to iPhone November 25, 2009

By K M. NYSTEDT

Format:Paperback

Supposedly this is not a book for just any iPhone user, it's for "busy professionals", meaning people who want to use their iPhone in their line of work. It covers the basics of iPhone in hardware and software, the built-in apps, getting additional apps, connecting to corporate email systems and more. For example, connecting iPhone to a corporate Microsoft Exchange system naturally takes up quite a bit of space, and if you use that technology at work that's a good section to read. The author has taken on a formidable task with big goals, and unfortunately I don't think he's quite accomplished what I think he set out to do. For example, chapter 16, "General business applications", starts on page 307 out of around 330 pages. That seems awfully late in a book aimed at business professionals. Another example, information about developing iPhone apps, occupies only two pages and consists mostly of a list of resources. I'm not saying there should be detailed information about developing apps, but surely it deserves more attention than that in a business-oriented book. The book was clearly written in the US primarily for a US audience, which shows in some sections, like maps, since in our part of the world (Middle East), getting directions with iPhone doesn't work. Overall, this book is a decent all-around introduction to iPhone for anyone who is just starting to use Apple's smartphone, but it falls short in the business aspect.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars If you still think Blackberry is better for business people, this book is for you. December 10, 2009

By Davide Di Cillo

Format:Paperback

The aim of this book is definitely for those skeptics business users who just jumped from the Blackberry on the iPhone train, or they are thinking about it. Being an advanced user myself, I probably couldn't fully appreciate it, but I am sure that a not too tech savvy person who's more interested in getting the exchange service to work, will love this book. I will definitely lend this book to some of my friends who are still dubious in switching their company from a BB environment to an iPhone one. The only negative point (but being a printed book there's not a lot to do about it) is the third-party apps section, that because of the nature of the iTunes store. Even if only a smaller portion are quality business related apps, every day about 400 new apps appear in the Apps Store, so it's impossible to be always updated on the new apps and softwares.