My Top 7 Apps: James Parton of Twilio Europe

I’m delighted to present an in-depth Top 7 Apps submission from James Parton, Director of Twilio Europe. I’ve long been a big fan of Twilio (I have had a lot of fun programming various apps using their API) — and I’ve long been a fan of James himself, having followed his telecoms career for some time now.

First, here’s a quick overview of Twilio to make sure you’re up to date:

Twilio is a software and cloud-based communications platform that enables developers and businesses to rapidly build and deploy communication solutions that meet their specific needs. Whether integrating voice, messaging and/or VoIP capabilities into a web or mobile app or building a complete system like a call center, Twilio removes the traditional obstacles to creating effective communications experiences. Twilio customers include fast-growing start ups such as Hailo, Box, and Airbnb as well as enterprises such as Coca-Cola, The Home Depot and Wal-Mart.

James uses the iPhone 5 so let’s get cracking through his Top 7 apps…

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Spotify: Yes, yes I know its a pretty mainstream way to kick things off, but I’m a music addict and have tried every digital music service out there. Spotify continues to work best for me. I’ve also been going to more gigs than ever recently so I’m hopeful the music industry will find business models that work for all parties.

Timehop: I’m a sucker for nostalgia, and having been a long time social media user I have years of self generated content to re-discover. Everyday it sends you the highlights from your own Twitter, FourSquare and Facebook updates for today from the past 6 years, so everyday you get to reminisce at your own personal “this day in history”.

Feedly: When Google announced it was closing Reader, I like others, was aghast. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as I discovered a much better way of consuming my RSS feeds. I know RSS feels very Web 1.0 these days but when you are constantly on the move, it remains the most efficient way for me to stay in touch and Feedly has managed to make RSS visually pleasurable to consume.

Hailo: I’m constantly meeting hopping around London so tend to be a big black cab user. Hailo is a life saver. Not so much for finding a cab as we are blessed in London to have the world’s best taxi service, but more to remove the need to carry cash to pay for rides. Having met the original co-founders, Hailo has always appealed most to me, having been conceived and created by cabbies.

Osper: Osper is a new bank designed for children and it is absolute genius. Both of my kids have Osper pre paid debit cards, and using the Osper mobile app I have real time control of their cards and visibility of their usage. My kids have empowerment, trust, security, and similar transparency.

Evernote: Another big hitter in the app leagues, but my life is non stop meetings and ideas so everything gets dumped into Evernote and perfectly sync’d between all my devices. Not the prettiest UI but it gets the job done.

Unroll.me: Technically not a mobile app, but I had to include it to make people aware it exists. If you are plagued by spam and other e-mail that you don’t have time to process (and who isn’t!) you *have* to use Unroll.me immediately. It intelligently scans your inbox and offers you the choice to unsubscribe with one click or roll up emails into daily or weekly digests. Life saver.

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Thanks to James for his list, I think unroll.me is a great addition as we can all find those inboxes a bit daunting at times. I also have to say, Osper looks simply brilliant. I am seriously considering getting one for my 4 year old. Although the website does say ‘8+’.

If you’d like to contribute your Top 7 Apps or if you are the PR representing someone you’d like to see featured, everything you need to know about participating is right here.