Right out of the box, the iPad includes email, contact, notes and calendar apps that will be more than adequate for many workers. If your team is already collaborating in the cloud, there are iPad apps for just about every cloud service, including WWD favorites such as Google Apps, Dropbox, Egnyte, Evernote, Simplenote, Toodledo, and SugarSync. And connections to Apple’s own MobileMe sync service are built into iOS.

As Darrell wrote recently, there are a number of useful productivity apps that make the iPad surprisingly useful. I’m not saying that an iPad can replace a fully-equipped laptop, but with a foldable Bluetooth keyboard, it can be a lightweight way to get a little work done in a pinch, especially as you can use one of the many remote control and screen sharing apps available for the iPad to remotely access and control an office computer. Here are a few options.

Proprietary Solutions

These apps connect to proprietary client software running on the computer in your office, and generally have the advantage that they can operate through firewalls and tend to be easy to set up.

• GoToMyPC. This is an app that I wrote about  recently. Note the developer no longer requires a credit card to create a trial account if you sign up from within the iPad app.
• LogMeIn Ignition is available for iPad and iPhone. Sam reviewed it here.
• RDM+, an app that I wrote about a while back.
• TeamViewer’s iPad app is available in free (non-commercial) and Pro versions. I reviewed it here.

VNC and RDP Solutions

These solutions require a VNC or RDP server to be running on your office computer. As I recently wrote, there are a number of VNC server options available. Macs have VNC capabilities built in, and some editions of WindowsWindows XP Professional, Vista, and Windows 7 come with RDP. Both VNC and RDP require configuring firewall rules and ports, which can be tricky.

• iTap RDP.
• iTap VNC.
• iTeleport uses VNC, but offers an option that claims “to leverage Google’s infrastructure to simplify the connection setup for you” by authenticating through Gmail. I haven’t tested it, so I don’t know how well it works.
• Jump Desktop supports VNC and RDP.
• Mocha Remote Desktop supports only RDP.
• Mocha VNC
• PocketCloud supports VNC and RDP; available in Standard and Pro versions.
• Screens, a VNC app that Darrell recently reviewed.
• Splashtop Remote supports VNC.
• VNC Viewer for iOS. I reviewed the Andorid version of the app here.

Do you use an iPad for teamwork? How do you connect to your office?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Report: A Mobile Video Market Overview
• In Q3, the Tablet and 4G Were the Big Stories
• Mobile Operators’ Strategies for Connected Devices

RDM+ allows users to control desktop computers from mobile devices. The software comes in several versions covering many mobile devices, including the iPhone/iPod touch, BlackBerry (which WWD reviewed in 2008), Windows Mobile, Palm and Java-enabled phones. There is also a web version.

In order to control a computer, one must have the desktop software (free, available for Windows or Mac) running. Setup is easy, and doesn’t require any special rules to deal with firewalls or dynamic IP addresses. During the setup process, one registers the desktop, and it is assigned a computer number, which is then used to access the machine remotely, together with a username and password combination you create.

RDM+ works well. With the software that the company provided to me, I found the interface easy to use. It takes good advantage of the iPhone’s landscape mode and zoom capabilities. There was only minimal delay in response time on an iPod touch connected via Wi-Fi, although I’m sure that data speeds will affect performance, depending on which network you are using. The software has an impressive list of other features, but doesn’t have file transfer capabilities.

There is a free trial, but don’t wait too long, as the sale on the iPhone version probably ends today; it’s unclear from the RDM+ web site when the normal price will return. The other mobile versions are also on sale, reduced by $5 – $10, depending on the version. Web access is also reduced — the basic price is down $5 to $24.95, or you can choose to buy a subscription for $5.95 per month. Costs for remote control software on mobile phones are definitely coming down — a similar product, LogMeIn Ignition (which Samuel wrote about back in September) was recently also on sale, with its normal $30 price reduced to $20.

Do you use RDM+ or other remote desktop software on your mobile phone?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Transient Apps: The Consumer Influence on Enterprise Mobility, Part 2
• Mobile Overview, Q2 2010

In a previous article, I covered tips for getting more from BlackBerry email. One application I didn’t mention is Jott for BlackBerry, which is an extension of its main service that lets you reply to messages using your voice. Jott transcribes your verbal message to text before sending it on to the recipient and includes a link in the email to hear the voice recording in case of transcription errors. The Jott voice recognition engine is amazing – even my laid-back Aussie drawl, which is usually a challenge for anyone out of the country to understand, let alone a machine, was transcribed with 100% accuracy.

eOffice

eOffice is the only document editor for BlackBerry currently available, but its real killer feature is integration with Google Docs and Spreadsheets. Using this program, you can open and edit files in your online account, as well as save files you’ve created on the BlackBerry directly to your Google account. But it still needs work: in my testing, the connection would time out more times than not, or throw up errors that the document I was trying to open was empty or invalid.

RDM+

Another means of accessing files that aren’t stored locally is RDM+, a remote access program that lets you connect to your PC, navigate your desktop using the BlackBerry’s trackball and keyboard, run programs and transfer files between your BlackBerry and PC. Using it over an EDGE connection is interminably slow, but it’s easy to set up and pays for itself the first time you leave an urgent file on your PC and don’t have any other means of retrieving it.

PocketDay

If you use your BlackBerry for time management, PocketDay is a must-have as it aggregates all of your PIM items and unread messages into a single screen. I’ve never subscribed to the idea of having tasks and appointments in separate applications – I need to see all of my meetings and to-do items in one place so I can organize my time effectively, and PocketDay provides that functionality, in addition to letting you save individual emails as actionable appointments or tasks and view other information like weather, stocks, world time and RSS feeds on one screen.

JiveTalk

If you use IM for chatting with colleagues and clients, JiveTalk will make your life a lot easier. It works across all major IM platforms, supports file transfers and chat transcripts (and even lets you email transcripts for a permanent record of discussions), and makes it easy to switch between multiple chat windows.

BlackBerry Call Screener

Finally, I’ve found BlackBerry Call Screener indispensable for managing my calls. When I’m ‘in the zone’, I don’t like being interrupted with phone calls, and rather than turn my BlackBerry off altogether, I can set up Antair CallScreener to block all calls save for people on my ‘whitelist’ (mainly my partner and family) – anyone else can send me an email or leave a voicemail! Other options in the program include blocking all calls, blocking all calls save for people in your address book, and allowing all calls except for people on your blacklist.

Got any other BlackBerry applications you can recommend? Let’s hear about them in the comments.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Mobile Q4: All Eyes Were on Android, 4G and the Rising Tablet Tide
• Transient Apps: The Consumer Influence on Enterprise Mobility, Part 2
• Rogue Devices: The Consumer Influence on Enterprise Mobility, Part 1