Now that the iPad has been on the market for a few months, I have started searching for cool financial iPad applications that can be useful. I have found 12 so far that seem interesting to me. In fact, these applications are almost enough for me to think about buying one…. hmmmm….
Why buy an iPad?
I am currently thinking of buying one for myself. Since its launch on April 3rd, the iPad has been one of Apple’s best commercial successes. Its sales so gone so well that they had to postpone the international launch! One of the reasons of its popularity is the “virtually unlimited” access to tons of books, magazines and newspapers in digital format. Definitely, the iPad is a first class toy for the big boys ;-). But playing with a screen is one thing, if I buy it, I need to work with it as well!
Here are the 12 iPad financial/business apps:3 Office Business iPad Apps:
iWork (Pages, Keynote and Numbers)
Price: $10 each
This is the iPad version of the Mac’s work suites. Each sell for $10 and they are 100% compatible with the Microsoft Office suite as well (Pages with Word, Keynote with Powerpoint and Numbers with Excel).
Keynote seems to be the most interesting iPad app of the 3 as you can hold your iPad in your hand and touch the screen to play the presentation. How convenient is it when you have a meeting with less than 10 people? Since you can plug the iPad into a bigger screen, it can become the perfect presentation tool for any type of conference.
Truphone
Price: Free!
It is a cheap version of Skype if you like. The iPad has both speakerphone and microphone incorporated so all you need is WiFi access and you can talk to anyone through this service.
The sound is far from being a Dolby 5.1 quality but it does the job in the meantime ;-).
Evernote
Price: Free!
This is an interesting iPad app that enable you to manage almost any kind of digital file (text, pictures, links, etc). Another great point, since your files are saved on the Evernote server, you can access them from anywhere.
3 Reading iPad Apps:
Instapaper Pro
Price: $5
This app is the same application as found for the iPhone and iTouch but they reformatted the app so it looks good on the iPad. This is the iPad app you want for reading on the web or if you want to save articles to save for a moment in the future.
Kobo
Price: Free!
This is the virtual Chapters-Indigo Library. You can find a lot of books that have been digitized for your viewing pleasure. While the app is free, most books sell for around $10. In order to differentiate this app from iBooks (the Apple virtual library), Kobo also includes Canadian content such as books and the Globe & Mail Best Sellers.
Zinio
Price: Free!
This is the iPad app to download if you want to read magazines and newspapers. While the newspaper industry is struggling, this might be a way to renew their readership.
3 Internet iPad Apps:
Ebay
Price: Free!
What more can I say? Who doesn’t know eBay? It must be a lot of fun to shop online with your iPad on your lap!
TweetDeck
Price: Free!
With the iPad, you can tweet, follow your friends and search on the same screen! You can also follow the trend of the moment with this free iPad app!
Bloomberg
Price: Free!
I love this app since you can get to all market quotes and tickers at anytime. Financial news is easy to follow and you can also add your favourite stocks to follow them at any time. The only thing missing is that you can’t trade directly with the iPad…
3 Personal Finance iPad Apps:
Expense Tablet
Price: $0.99
We all need a budget but it is often a pain to keep track of your spending. With expense tablet, you can “play” with your iPad while managing your personal finance at the same time. The app allows you to create customized categories and you can track the balance of each account (but you have to connect manually).
Thomson Reuters Marketboard
Price: Free!
Similar to Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters Marketboard offers you all the financial news you need to know. Corporate events and reported earnings are easy to follow. This is definitely a great app for those who are interested in following financial news.
E*Trade Mobile Pro [USA]
Price: Free!
You might not be able to trade with the Bloomberg app, but E*Trade has converted their original iPhone app for the iPad so you can bring your investment portfolio with you everywhere. This is the perfect tool for those who want to trade wherever, whenever!
Do you know any other useful apps for the iPad?
After reviewing these apps, I am more and more convinced to buy one…. Do you have any other cool apps that you have on your iPad?
I’m also dreaming up reasons to buy an iPad, but I have to say that I don’t hear a lot of solid reasons for buying it in this post. Maybe it’s because you are trying to give general advice, but I think that if I heard more of this app would be invaluable to “me” because “x” Last year you did a post about iPhone mortgage apps and I really liked that you included info on what you most used as well as some general info. I know since you haven’t yet bought the iPad, it’s a little tricky, but since you have used an iPhone/iTouch, some of these apps should be somewhat familiar to you and you can articulate why an iPad version would be better/useful
Do you already use Evernote? Instapaper? Tweetdeck? Clearly, you like the Bloomberg app.
Do you already use iWork? Does your company? Because few people I know create a presentation just for their own use — and the creating part of the presentation isn’t likely to happen on the iPad. There is a learning curve to consider.
Hopefully, this comes as constructive criticism and not just mean ranting. Again, I’m drooling over an iPad (primarily as a reading device, with a lot of websurfing, and just maybe as a video player) But I can’t yet find a solid gold-plated reason why my iPhone and my other computers (yes, plural) are inadequate.
It’s your money, and you don’t have to justify buying a shiny thing for its shiny-ness. But it seems to me that you are trying to disguise the shiny appeal under some veneer of responsibility/respectability to the readers of your blog.
@L.
You have undiscovered me! I actually want an iPad and found a few cool apps but I am not convinced yet that the iPad is something more than a cool device…
I’ll probably buy one later one through my company, at least it will be tax deductible 😉 hahaha!
My reason for buying my iPad was purely to be able to get more stuff done in less time – it’s all about personal productivity for me. Two more I would add to your list are DropBox and LifeTopix. DropBox is just so easy-to-use and is great for a free “virtual memory stick”. LifeTopix is invaluable to me just in terms of justifying the whole reason I got my iPad. Out-of-the-box, it lets me manage all the things I care about, including my accounts and bill payments, tasks, projects, shopping, travel, and health metrics. And best of all, everything interrelates where it makes sense (e.g. I list the things I need to buy for a project I’m working on and they automatically show up in a shopping list, etc.). It’s a great app and a huge time saver.