Linkedin 2.0 for iPhone Deserves an Entirely New Review

By: Hillel Fuld

2010 started a half an hour ago and on a totally non related topic, after living in New York for 15 out of the 31 years of my life, I just watched the Times Square ball drop for the first time in my life, and I am not even in the US now. You gotta love the real time Web. Thanks Ustream! On that topic, Happy New Year to all our loyal readers, a lot of big things happening this year with Appboy, stay tuned!

Back to our topic, since it is a new year, I figured I would talk about my biggest surprise of 2009 on the Web, Linkedin. Just like many, I had a Linkedin account for a long time, which was pretty much summed up by the occasional email, and perhaps a visit to the site once every few months. Little did I know that Linkedin actually brings more “ROI” than any other social network. Whether it is traffic you are after or just creating amazing connections that would never have been otherwise possible, Linkedin is HUGE. Just to illustrate the point, the amount of traffic I get daily to the various sites on which I write from Linkedin is around double what I get from Twitter and Facebook combined. Now, there is an art to Linkedin, it is just not as simple as Twitter, but if done right, the results are unparalleled.

So, Linkedin surprised me in 2009, and the new iPhone app released last week, took Linkedin to a whole new level. The last version of the Linkedin iPhone app was OK, I had no complaints. Same is true for the last version of the Facebook app. However, both the new Facebook and Linkedin apps for the iPhone bring the user experience to a whole new level. I compare the two because they are in every way similar, and they both make the top free apps of 2009 in my opinion.

The new Linkedin app is designed with the same concept as the Facebook one, in that there is a main display filled with huge icons directing you to the various features of the site.  Along the top, there is a search bar, which enables you to search Linkedin for a person in your connections, would have been cool if you would be able to search for companies or groups too. The other icons on that screen are All Updates, Status, Profiles, Discussions, Connections, Favorites, Inbox, Invitations, Recents, Reconnect, In Person, and Themes.

Most of the options are pretty straight forward and obvious, but it is the actual interface that is revolutionary. The two features that stick out are Themes and In Person. OK, themes are not the biggest deal, but it adds a little color (literally and figuratively) to an otherwise “boring” business-oriented social network. The theme screen includes a list of 10 vibrant and fun colors including purple, green, orange, and pink. Just adds some flavor in my opinion.

However, the coolest and most game-changing feature in the new Linkedin app for iPhone by far, is the In Person feature. Simply enable the iPhone’s bluetooth, place the phone near another Linkedin user’s iPhone, and you can connect instantly with that person’s Linkedin account. It is brilliant, simple, and necessary. Nice to know that the developer did not just strive to make another boring app that replicates the functionality of the site, but actually thought out of the box on this one.

I have heard about and experienced some strange errors in the app specifically with the inbox and invitations, not sure if it is a connection issue, or a bug in the app, but hey, no app is perfect, right?

I can go on and on about this new app and its brilliant interface, but I will just summarize this post, this year, and this decade by saying if you are not on Linkedin, you are missing out on a golden opportunity, and if you are and have not downloaded this app, well, let’s say this in a positive way for the new year, go download it now.

Our Rating: 4/5

Download Link

Developer: Linkedin

Bookmark to