Google recently announced the ability of users to view Google Docs on iPhone and iPad. iPhone owners will be able to view Google Docs documents using the Google Viewer, a web based document viewing tool, which lets users view documents without actually downloading them. Google viewer supports file types like .doc and .docx. This means if you open an email in GMail using your iPhone, which has .doc and .docx attachments, you can simply click on them and see them using Google viewer.

The Google Viewer is also designed to use the native capabilities of iPhone, which means you can zoom in and out. 

However, the ability to edit these documents using your browser is not supported. In any case, this is certainly a compelling features for mobile workers who use iPhone for business.

HyperOffice recently launched HyperSynch, a seemingly revolutionary push technology service which claims to exceed most of the popular solutions in the market, including MobileMe and BlackBerry Enterprise Server, in all its forms.

According to HyperOffice, current services that offer push email, contacts, calendars and tasks and over the air synchronization suffer from one or more of the following drawbacks:-

1) They work on for a single mobile phone. MobileMe suffers from this, in that it only works for different versions of iPhone. Because of this, small companies cannot enable workers with mobile information on the phones they already have, and have to buy mobile phones specially for business purposes.

2) They are server based complex solutions which end up costing a lot. BES suffers from this, in that it needs to be installed on a server and requires IT administrators to manage it.

3) They are mainly personal information managers, and do not allow workers to share and sync calendars, contacts and tasks on the mobile phones of their colleagues. MobileMe has this problem, as it has no concept of "shared" team information.

4) They do not offer synchronization and access of Outlook data, which is an all important tool for business workers. Employees manage most of their information on Outlook while theyre in office, and would like to access and synch this data with their mobile mail, calendars, tasks, contacts when theyre out of office. MobileMe has this problem.

5) They lack key features. Google Sync suffers from this in that it does not have an inbuilt task management system and does not offer task synching.

HyperOffice claims to solve all of these problems in one go with HyperSynch's mobile collaboration capabilities. It is an online service pushes and synchronizes mail, contacts, calendars and tasks for over 1700 mobile devices including iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, many Nokia Phones, J2ME phones, and some Android phones, and allows users to share mobile calendars, contacts and tasks with colleagues.  

Go check it out!

RIM recently launched BES Express, a stripped down version of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, its well known mobile messaging server. It will be evailable for free, and is targeted towards small and medium sized businesses which could earlier not afford BES. It allows users to push data to their BlackBerry devices, and synch information with MS Exchange or Small Business Server wirelessly.

As Larry Dignan said in his recent article at ZDNet, the latest development is RIM's attempt to keep its products on small business servers. According to him, it should have ideally been a hosted service, not expecting companies to load and manage anything on their own servers.

Moreover, BES Express also assumes that SMBs already have MS Exchange installed on their servers.  Although this may be true for mid sized businesses, the MS Exchange burden itself is too much for small businesses.

So there is a great gap for a solution that pushes email, contacts, calendars and tasks and synchs them wirelessly, irrespective of device, and does not require any software hosted on the users servers. HyperOffice say they have that covered with a soon to be announced mobile collaboration solution. Lets see what they offer. 

The much awaited iPad was recently launched by Apple with much pomp and aplomb. With iPad, Apple intends to create a new device category which is in the middle of laptops and mobiles, and serves mainly the purpose of internet browsing, email, photo sharing and calendars.

The tech crowd has not received the new Apple product with too much entuseasm, as they feel it has too many limitations - memory too limited, the inability to multitask, no camera, and the limitation of having to use AT&T as an internet service provider. Some even question whether it is logical to have a new device between laptops and mobiles.

One thing is for sure. The device is a lot more mobile than a laptop with its 1.5 pound weight and 10 hour battery backup. On the other hand, its screen is a lot bigger than that of mobile devices and betters them in terms of internet experience.

Like the iPhone and the iPod, if this device catches on, it may mean a lot for enterprises and collaboration software. The iPhone is increasingly being seen as a business device, especially because of its internet abilities and computing power. Since the iPad is so internet friendly, it definitely suits web based (saas) applications. In recent times, SaaS has been emerging as the hottest technology, and there is a greater need for teams to be able to collaborate remotely, even while travelling. The proliferation of an internet friendly device like the iPad which improves upon both laptops and mobiles in terms of internet experience, may provide both yet another thrust.

Top lists are an all time favorite topic to write about. So for this month of November, I ran across another good list at the Impact Lab site, which i borrowed from, and added a few of my personal favorites to. Without further ado, here is the list:-

1) iTerminal - iTerminal lets you accept credit card payments wherever business takes you. 

2) Analytics App - View Google Analytics reports on your iPhone. 

3) Evernote - Keep track of everything that happens in your life.

4) HyperOffice iPhone Collaboration Suite - Access and share business email, documents, calendars, contacts and tasks right through your iPhone. 

5) Tungle - Coordinate meetings with teams.