Following our article on the best iPhone applications, this week, Via Her focuses on BlackBerry applications suited for businesswomen. In the first quarter of 2009, the BlackBerry Curve edged out the iPhone to become the best-selling smartphone in the US, according to research group NPD. Interestingly, the iPhone held this top spot in both the third and fourth quarters of 2008. This goes to prove that despite the iPhone’s growing popularity, the BlackBerry still remains the device of choice in enterprise. Here are some of the best BlackBerry applications to help women business travelers.

Your Comprehensive Travel Buddy

The best application that could meet just about all your requirements while you are on the road, including providing a trip itinerary, weather forecasts, flight status alerts, and more includes:
WorldMate Live (Free): This application creates a comprehensive trip itinerary for you—flight schedules, hotel bookings, car rentals, meeting schedules and more—by taking the confirmation emails from your bookings. In addition WordMate provides you with currency conversion, weather forecast, flight status and flight schedules. Note: While the basic version of WorldMate Live is free, you will have to subscribe to take advantage of the advanced features ($9.95 monthly or $99.95 annually).

Your Trusted Guide

Finding our way around a new city is difficult for most of us and juggling with a paper map is inconvenient. Via Her recommends the best BlackBerry map application to help you get around more easily without getting lost or having to ask strangers for directions.
Google Maps for BlackBerry (Free): This mobile mapping application works with both GPS and non-GPS enabled devices. It determines your location by gathering data from cellphone towers nearby, alleviating the need for you to enter any location information yourself.

Your Constant Line of Communication

Tired of finding public phone booths to make calls to your loved ones back home? Or are your international roaming bills skyrocketing? Traditional calling cards are a nuisance too, requiring you to enter as many as 20 digits at a time. The best BlackBerry applications to help you stay in touch conveniently and economically include:
BerryDialer Version 1.3 ($26.99): This is compatible with almost all calling cards and can store up to 100 calling cards at a time. You can dial any number directly from your phonebook without having to enter the calling card code.
iSkoot for Skype (BlackBerry) 1.1.60 (Free): You can chat or make Skype calls to any place in the world. This version has been designed to use minimal memory and battery power of your BlackBerry.

Your Personal Finance Manager

Keeping track of expenses is a requisite of any business trip. The best BlackBerry applications to help you track and record expenses are:
Ascendo Money Version 2.4 ($26.96):  This is an easy-to-use application with an intuitive interface and a host of helpful features to help you with your finances, including keeping track of withdrawals, deposits, balances, and more. You can even synchronize the Ascendo Money Desktop with Ascendo Money on your BlackBerry so you can transact using your laptop keyboard.
Expense Tracker for Blackberry Version 4.0 ($14.39): You can keep track of your expenses and plan your budget in a number of currencies and under various categories including business expenses, credit cards, loans, shopping and more.

Your Fitness Expert

Keeping tabs on diet and fitness while on the road is quite a task for many of us. The BlackBerry application to help you with this is:
Ascendo Fitness for BlackBerry Version 3.65 ($26.96): This application allows you to set fitness goals, keep track of your diet and exercise, gauge your progress, and more.

Your Organizer

To-do lists, meetings and agendas, packing checklists, grocery lists—it takes a lot for us to stay organized with the number of things to keep track of. The best BlackBerry applications to help you stay better organized include:
Checklist Pro for Blackberry Version 3.0 ($14.39): This application efficiently manages your day-to-day checklists, from grocery to to-do lists, but it is quite handy to create packing lists.
Minutes of Meeting for Blackberry Version 4.1 ($14.39): This is a very useful application to keep record of details of every meeting or event you have ever attended.

Your Weatherman

From deciding whether you require an umbrella to planning an outdoor team event, a handy weather forecasting application is a boon to us, businesswomen. There aren’t many comprehensive weather applications for the BlackBerry, but the best include:
Handy Weather for BlackBerry Version 1.0.11 ($7.95 for 3-month subscription): This application delivers accurate weather forecasts for over 40,000 cities around the world.
Yahoo! Go (Free): Yahoo! Weather for BlackBerry offers the latest daily weather updates as well as multi-day weather forecasts for a number of cities worldwide. Yahoo! Go also offers a host of other functions like news alerts, flight information, stock quotes, restaurant information and more.

Your Mobile Internet Provider

Have you found yourself looking for a Wi-Fi-enabled place just to send out that all-important email after business hours or from an airport? The best BlackBerry application that allows you to access the internet anywhere while on the go includes:
Shark Modem Version 1.23 ($44.97): This application allows your BlackBerry device to be used as a modem so that you can access the internet wherever you are.

Your Handy Converter

Foreign currency, time, distance, weight, shoe sizes—when we cross borders while traveling, doing some quick mental math (and not always finding the right answer) becomes mandatory. Handy BlackBerry applications that can do these conversions for you include:
Universal Converter for Blackberry Version 1.0 ($14.40): Touted as the “behemoth of converters” by PC Pocket Magazine, this application performs over 35,000 conversions in over 30 categories including weights, time, cooking, electric capacity and more.
Handy Converter for BlackBerry Version 1.5.2 ($10.76): This is a more “practical” conversion application than the Universal Converter as in addition to classic conversion (weight, temperatures, etc.), it also converts currencies and clothes.

Your Security Device

Safety is always a concern while on the road, whether it is keeping your business information secure or your personal safety. The best BlackBerry applications for safety include:
PhoneBAK BB (Anti-theft for BlackBerry)-Wipeout Edition Version 4.2 ($22.41): Once installed, this application allows you to effectively wipe out all the information stored on your BlackBerry, in case it is stolen, by simply sending an SMS from another phone. In addition, you can easily pinpoint your stolen BlackBerry’s location by using this application’s security software.
FlashLight! for BlackBerry Version 3.0 ($1.49): Have you found yourself fumbling for your compact to check your makeup just before a meeting, or been looking for a flashlight during a sudden power outage? This application turns your BlackBerry into a portable flashlight or a mirror in a jiffy.

Your Interpreter

Often time, we find ourselves in a country where English is not widely spoken or understood. Although there are quite a few BlackBerry applications that do single-language translations (for instance, English-French, English-Chinese), there are very few multi-translation applications available. The best multi-translation application includes:
BBTran (Free): This is a multi-translation application that translates words, phrases, and provides a dictionary lookup in over 40 languages using various online services like Google Translate, Systran, Free Translation and more.

With these handy applications, your BlackBerry can continue being your trusted business travel companion. With better overall security, longer battery life, and a more user-friendly keyboard for long emails than the iPhone, it should be quite some time before business users ditch their trusty BlackBerry for the iPhone.