However, he got the iPhone to test. He obviously asked for a few recommendations.

I got my iPhone and proceeded to browse through the screens observing which ones I actually used. I thought this might be an interesting exercise for you to read. If time permits, it would be super if you could do the same in the comments as I’m sure I’ll discover some good apps that way.

Here’s my as-I-scrolled list — I’ve put iTunes links to every one:

- Evernote for keeping notes, files, WiFi passwords across multiple devices (not just computers)
- Kindle, from Amazon, to read my ebooks when I’m on-the-go
- Amazon Mobile, for buying stuff that comes to mind (e.g. shoelaces, batteries, etc)
- SocialCam, for shooting video and then sending that video out to Facebook/Twitter
- Posterous, for maintaining my own personal blog/blog for friends/family
- Google+ app is really, really good — you need to try ‘Huddle’
- Spotify, for audio on-demand (tenner a month)
- Find My iPhone, so I can locate the iPhone if it’s lost
- DropBox, obviously — have you got a dropbox account?
- LinkedIn is sometimes useful
- Osfoora, for twitter — my client of choice
- UK Train Times — national rail app, expensive but super useful. Really like ‘next train home’
- British Airways — so you don’t need to ever bother with paper boarding tickets ever again
- Instagram, for snapping cool looking photos.
- Hullomail, for visual voicemail because (so you can always access your voicemails via the app and in your gmail)
- ON Voicefeed is another visual voicemail app, it’s brilliant
- LogMeIn, for accessing your desktop remotely. I use this two or three times a day for getting files and controlling my home machines from wherever I am
- Skyfire — full desktop browsing experience
- Audioboo, for recording audio ‘thoughts’ and sticking them on twitter (also, iPadio)
- Qik Plus, for live broadcasting video straight from my phone
- MIR, the mobile industry review application (just a news feed) that I paid $400 to a chap called Pavel to make
- Shoeboxed, for taking photos of receipts and having somebody else type in the value, company, date etc. so the accountant can download it later on
- OpenTable for booking Gaucho Grill in 10 seconds
- Reeder is a really good Google Reader client
- SoundHound is a billion times better than Shazam — song identification (every time I’ve tried Shazam lately, I’ve got a ‘sorry, dunno’ reply! Hardly ever from SoundHound..
- Sky+, because sometimes — rarely — I want to record stuff from live TV
- Touchnote, for sending my digital photos as real postcards to granny every week. She loves it.
- WordPress, for maintaining the sites on-the-go
- PizzaExpress, because I can’t be bothered with the 60-second faff with the credit card machine. I always pay via PayPal with the app now.

There are plenty more applications I do use, but these ones are most definitely regulars.

What about you? I’d very much welcome a list from you of your *every day* apps. If you don’t have much time, stick down one or two apps in the comments?

An OpenTable executive who spoke at ad:tech said that 10 percent of the company’s online reservations are booked via mobile and stressed the importance of having a mobile-optimized Web site.

During the “Mobile Marketing: Big Changes Brought on by Little Apps” panel, the OpenTable executive discussed how mobile creates incremental booking opportunities. The session was moderated by Tina Unterlaender, account director at AKQA Mobile, San Francisco.

“Mobile is driving real restaurant businesses,” said Scott Jampol, senior director of consumer marketing at OpenTable, San Francisco.

via OpenTable exec: Forget about apps until mobile Web site is complete – Mobile Commerce Daily – Applications.

Now then, what do you think? I agree with the Scott… it’s not a popular view though, is it?

Analog restaurant booking has always been a hellish experience for me. I really can’t stand arsing around having to spell out my name or my telephone number. I also really object to calling at 11am to book a table only to realise that the restaurant ‘isn’t open yet’. Ridiculous.

Which is why when OpenTable came along, I grasped the concept with both hands.

And when they launched a mobile web version, I remember using it at least three or four times a week in San Francisco.

Now that they have their mobile app, the experience of booking over 13,000 restaurants on-the-go is even simpler. It’s not just me who’s appreciating it either. As of today, OpenTable has now seated 3 million diners, generating $150m in revenues for its restaurant partners (based on a $50 bill per diner).

You can get the app for iPhone, Palm, BlackBerry and Android. Though OpenTable haven’t quite got the message about Nokia or Samsung as yet. I hope they do, soon.

Meanwhile users of other platforms can use the mobile.opentable.com to book.

You simply log on, find a restaurant, hunt for space and click ‘book’. Simultaneously that table you’ve just acquired is marked as reserved on the restaurant’s machine — so there’s no double booking and you get to walk straight in ahead of the queues.

Time and time again I wanted to do the booking by mobile.

Well Zagat, the well known restaurant guide, is the first to adopt OpenTable’s mobile booking system. And it makes a heck of a lot of sense:

“ZAGAT.mobi is the first mobile website to link to OpenTable’s new mobile service,” said Nina Zagat, Co-Chair of Zagat Survey. “ZAGAT.mobi is a one-stop shop for making informed dining decisions and then taking action.”

Zagat-Rated restaurants that are OpenTable partners will have a proprietary icon of a table and chair next to their phone number on ZAGAT.mobi which, when clicked, will open the reservation search box. OpenTable users simply choose a date, time and party size in order to find available tables and then make an instant reservation at the specified restaurant.

Done. That’s a winner! Remember zagat.mobi when you’re out and about. I’ll give this a go when I’m in San Francisco in September for CTIA.