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If the iPhone wants to be taken serious as a business device it’s going to have to have applications other than More Cowbell (the app that lets you simulate playing a cowbell). A definite must-have for business users is LinkedIn, the professional online network. Today, it launched through the App Store.
The application itself is very simple. You won’t find all the bells and whistles that social network Facebook included in its app (and is likely to include a lot more of in the new version coming shortly), but I consider that a good thing. When I go to LinkedIn, I don’t want to poke people, I want to find a contact I’m looking for and get their information. The LinkedIn app is perfect for that.
The main page is the news feed to show which of your contacts is doing what, you can click on any of them to go to their pages within the app. The next major part is Connections, which is your contact list. It looks and works just like Apple’s own Contacts app. You can find anyone by searching or by using the letters along the side to jump to a name. The Search area allows you to search for anyone or anything by keyword, name, company or title. And finally, the Status area allows you to broadcast to your contact what you are working on.
I cannot see some of the more advanced features of LinkedIn on the app. For example, I know a contact has asked me to write a recommendation for them, but I cannot do that from the app. You can however direct message someone by going to their page. There is also a cool feature that allows you to port over a contact’s information from LinkedIn to your own contact list on your phone.
The app doesn’t try to do too much but it doesn’t need to. It’s business baby, not personal.
It’s a free download available through the App Store here.
