WebEx Hits the iPhone

I've been on the road a lot lately, and while I've been able to dial in for conference calls, I've missed out on some WebEx meetings since I haven't wanted to go to the trouble of hauling my laptop around and searching out a WiFi hotspot.

That could change after today's unveiling at Macworld of WebEx's new iPhone application. Available as a free download from the iTunes app store, the Cisco WebEx Meeting Center lets you join meetings and enjoy the full multimedia show -- documents, applications, screen-sharing with live annotations, and more -- right from your iPhone.

The app can be used with any iPhone with OS 2.0 and above and an active cellular or WiFi connection. You'd probably get the most out of the app by using the 3G iPhone, since it lets you simultaneously connect to both audio and data over the same cellular signal.

But if you have the 1G phone, you could connect to WiFi to join the data part of the conference and access the audio portion through your cellular signal.

And yes, you could also use an iPod touch to join the Web portion, but you'd need a separate phone for audio.

It's free to join a meeting, and if you're already a customer your WebEx site will be automatically upgraded to be iPhone compatible.

A couple of limitations: The app won't let you present content or schedule a meeting. But for road warriors who love their iPhones, that's a small compromise for a big convenience.

Want to see more? Check out the video below.

(image courtesy Cisco)