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Experts Speak: Inspiring Apps

Written by Peter Devereaux | Mar 1, 2013 6:00:00 AM

Mobile is changing the way consumers interact with brands and the way businesses reach them. There are many possible design and development features to explore and what better way to get inspiration than from the apps that inspire Web workers the most. Website Magazine interviewed some of the Web's biggest and brightest to bring you 10-plus apps to get your digital wheels turning. 

What are the apps you find the most inspiring and why?

Google App Suite of Products (B2B) & Evernote (B2C)

My favorite B2B app would still have to be the Google Apps suite of products (pictured below). Everyone I know is using Gmail, Calendar, and Google Docs. It's replaced MS Office for everyone I interact with daily. My favorite consumer targeted mobile app at the moment would be Evernote, simply for the available-everywhere philosophy. I use it daily to manage personal GTD tasks, capture notes about future articles I'd like to write, and store reference material.

"SethBanks, Cashboard 

DocScanner (B2B)

This gem turns your smartphone into an OCR document scanner, turning paper documents into editable PDF's. 

"Ron Rule, CEO of Coracent

Flow (B2B)

Personally I'm a big fan of Flow (getflow.com) - it has a great, simple design and is incredibly user friendly.

"Sean Ziolko, Designer, ÄKTA

LiquidSpace (B2B)

It allows professionals to find a conference room or a desk to use where ever they are -- and it allows facilities with excess capacity to turn a profit from that capacity.

"Joshua R. Simmons, CEO of Bluebird Interactive

Gmail for Android (B2B) & Dropbox (B2C)

Gmail's interface and feature set allow me to manage and sync my email (still the most important interface for any self-respecting business) on my phone and tablet, without missing a beat. As for B2C, Dropbox. It's always been dead simple. Works across all devices and operating systems, and (most recently) allows me to instantly back up pics and videos, as I snap them. It's held up to Box, Drive and all of the other copycats because of the seamless user experience they've perfected.

"Jay Melone, CEO at DigitalXBridge

Teambox and GroupSpaces (B2B) & Chess.com and Spotify (B2C)

I'm impressed with the project management applications, Teambox (pictured below) and GroupSpaces. I have looked at quite a few project management applications and they are the best from a developer perspective. As for B2C, I'm a huge fan of SaaS model applications, particularly chess.com and spotify. Both offer an amazing service for a small monthly fee.

"Will Farley, Web Developer at Web Power Labs 

Geico Brostache (B2C)

You probably saw this in a Geico commercial... It's cleverly stupid and as a result, millions of people downloaded it. Of course, it's hard to gauge how effective it was since Geico is already a household name, but imagine what it could lead to if a smaller, less recognized company was behind it. 

"Ron Rule, CEO of Coracent

Flipboard (B2C)

One B2C app I use multiple times a day is Flipboard, which allows you to aggregate content from any website or social media feed in a newspaper-style layout. It automatically pulls in links and information making it easy to digest your Facebook, Twitter, and favorite RSS feeds all at once.

"Ryan Stemkoski, Interactive Director of  Zipline Interactive