Droid Apps Offer Boost for Small Businesses

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- How badly do Verizon Communications(VZ), Motorola(MOT) and Google(GOOG) want to take down Apple(AAPL) and its Phone? Just marvel at their work on the upcoming Droid phone due out on Nov. 6.

Verizon went mano-a-mano against the smartphone giant with heavy advertising during everything from the Cardinals-Giants game to the World Series. Its Web campaign teased enough early information on the Droid to seed Internet awareness. The positive buzz resulted in more media coverage, creating more Web traffic. And more TV spots. And yet more traffic. And more TV.

So far, Droid's performance is living up to the hype. Phones running the Android operating system are fast and cheap; the Droid costs $199 with a new plan. Even better, they have open development platforms that allow for more customization.

But this tech success story caught one player flatfooted: Microsoft(MSFT). Many core Microsoft business functions aren't fully supported by Android, including Office Mobile. So working with even basic Word and Excel files requires third-party applications.

The good news is downloading and working with these tools is fast and easy through the Android Market, where users can access 12,000 applications, including task managers, notepads and job search resources.

Here are some of the best Android-based productivity apps for small businesses:

DataViz Documents to Go: The clear leader for accessing mobile documents across all platforms is Documents to Go from Milford, Conn.- based DataViz. The company specializes in porting Microsoft's products to essentially all mobile platforms. The basic viewer is a no-brainer download for any Android business user.