I recently heard about AppMakr.com, where you can easily produce your own iPhone app. I've been hearing about a number of tools you can use to easily make your own app, but AppMakr.com is the main one that I read about this week.

Initially, I thought to myself that most businesses don't need an iPhone app. I figured this type of tool would be more useful to techy or web-based companies.

But I got to thinking...

Regardless of what market you are in, there is always new information coming into the industry that your customers would care about. With the simple iPhone apps provided by AppMakr.com, you could create a way to be the source of industry information for your clients.

Let's say your a small business accountant. There is always new tax news and general business news that your customers may be somewhat interested in. Using an iPhone app, you could provide a quick and easy (and possibly daily way) to keep in touch with your customers by providing this news to them.

They would open the app and be able to see posts that you've placed on your website blog about industry news. I'll spare you the technical mumbo jumbo, but you could easily create an app that simply pulls the articles you place on your website and shows them on your customer's iPhones.

This app marketing tactic falls back on something I've been researching lately: it seems that people more often remember who they heard information from, not who actually authored the original information.

The blog post you're reading right now is an example.

I'm willing to bet that if someone asks you at any point in the near future about where to start in wanting to make an iPhone app for their small business, then you're going to think of this blog post you're reading right now. In addition, I'd be willing to bet that you'll remember that it was Jon Tucker (me) that showed you the AppMakr.com tool.

I'm not saying that using this iPhone app strategy is going to make or break your marketing success. However, I always encourage clients to be aware of the possibilities that are out there and to consider everything. This is something that's actually very easy to integrate into your marketing campaigns.

I'm testing this with a client and will keep you posted on progress. For now, I'd love to hear your initial thoughts on this marketing tactic in the comments below.

I constantly surf the web, sometimes at times when I know I shouldn't. If you're an avid smartphone user, you've probably jumped online once or twice while driving recently.

I had an idea last year that I never moved forward with, but I saw a company that made this idea a reality at the Consumer Electronics Show. It was really cool to see it in action.

The idea is essentially to turn browsing the web while driving into something as un-distracting as listening to a radio station. The app, by Aha Mobile, enables you to create "channels", where you add blogs you like to read and other online content. It then reads blog content aloud to you, enabling you to "read" your blogs and web based content without having to take your eyes off the road.

Do you listen to music or talk radio when driving? Do you read blogs and web content a lot?

Would you use something like this to "read" web content while you're on the road?

Share your thoughts in the comments area.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I sat in on a competition of mobile applications. It was really interesting to see the apps that entrepreneurs and large businesses are putting together these days.

One app enabled women to run simple background checks on men they meet to see if this guy is someone they should go on a date with. By just entering someone's name or phone number, the app presents you with quick and comprehensive criminal background info and can even reveal if the guy owns a house or lives with his parents. The app, designed by data warehousing company Intelius, puts tons of personal background data right at your fingertips.

I find it amazing the various things apps are being developed for. This is something I'm sure will continue to grow in coming years, especially considering Google's recent entry into the smartphone market.

What are the best apps you've seen? Share them in the comments and we'll start to see which apps all of you are interested in.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, I heard about an iPhone app that is about farts. Yes, farts. The app is called iFart.

But I was also told that this app made $40,000 in sales in it's first 4 days on the app store. I was amazed at how a simple toy, which is what I think this app would be classified as, could generate so much cash so fast.

This is an example of novel, and sometimes odd ideas making a big splash in the app market...and making big bucks at the same time.

What are some of the oddest apps you've heard of? Do you have any quirky ideas for an app that you think would be interesting?

Share your thoughts in the comments area below.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, I saw the leader of Geodelic, an iPhone app, present in a mobile apps competition.

He had the best presentation, but it's because he started off in the worst possible way.

Let me explain.

He started off with a single powerpoint slide that contained one of the longest, most technical sounding "mission statements" I have ever heard. As he continued speaking, and people thought that this was going to be "one of those" presentations, I started to hear a rumble build in the 300+ person crowd.

At that moment, a person in the crowd interrupted him and yelled (I'm paraphrasing their words), "no offense, but we cant understand a word you're saying...show us the app with pictures or get off the stage".

I literally looked down to the ground, as I felt so embarrassed for the guy.

As it turns out, he had planned all of this and the audience member was part of his team. He transitioned into a great picture and video based presentation that was very captivating. The crowd applauded as he demonstrated his product and everyone seemed to love it.

Lesson learned?

Grab your audience by the arm immediately at the start of your presentation. After that, solid presentation content will keep them captivated. He was able to have 110% audience attention the entire time because 100% of the audience listened to every single word at the start of his presentation, wondering if he was actually serious about presenting in this boring way.

Think about presentations you've seen. What are some ways that speaker's have successfully grabbed your attention? Are there any big mistakes speaker's have made that you remember off the top of your head?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section.