Mobile’s momentum continues to build this month with the release of another search application and a collection of new app creation options emerging for smaller players.

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Executive, a real estate firm in Western Washington, is covering all bases with its new smartphone application. The app is available on standard cell phones and smartphones across all mobile carriers including the iPhone, BlackBerry devices, Android devices, and Palm Pre and Pixi. According to the company, that’s 95 percent of cell phones across all mobile carriers.

The app was created in partnership with Smarter Agent, a company that made a splash with the release of its Homes for Sale app back in May last year. As well as working with real estate firms, Smarter Agent does offer single agent accounts from US$49.95 per month. But what if you’re not keen to invest quite that much in a mobile application? Are there any cheaper options available?

We’ve talked before about free mobile website creation options, but when it comes to apps, things haven’t been quite so accessible. Luckily for app enthusiasts, it looks like that’s starting to change. A couple of startups at this year’s DEMO Spring 2010 event are attracting attention for their fresh approach to apps.

Let’s start with AppWhirl. This very new service – currently in invite-only mode – promises to let anyone make their own iPhone app for free in “about five minutes”. The creators told venturebeat.com they hope to make app creation “virtually free” for everyone.

Co-founder Richard Jordan went so far as to compare app creation now to website creation in the mid-1990s. Back then, only a skilled few could create websites, but now almost anyone can set one up in minutes. Jordan sees app development going down the same path.

AppWhirl isn’t the only company looking to make app building easier. SwebApps promises the ability to make an app in minutes, and hosts it for a monthly fee of $25. For an extra $10, SwebApps can also track data related to the usage of your app. AppMakr is another possibility, however their prices are higher. They charge $199 to publish your app for you, or $499 to let you publish under your own brand.

Those looking to try out app creation without paying anything to start with might consider BuildAnApp, which lets you build your own app for multiple platforms on a 30 day free trial.

Still wondering whether a mobile app is worth the trouble? clickz.com’s Rob Weber offers some compelling arguments for apps, explaining that iPhone and iPod touch users are engaged with their apps for an average of 79 to 80 minutes per day. Weber also points to the success of movie website Flixster, which more than doubled its mobile user base in 2009 through the use of mobile apps.

As always, we’re keen to hear from any agents who have experience creating their own app. Let us know what the challenges were, and whether the app brought in more business.

At the start of the year, we looked at what 2010 might have in store for real estate agents. One of our predictions was that a mobile presence will become a necessity for agents this year.

But isn’t this a bit of an overstatement? Are Internet-enabled mobile phones, or smart phones, really becoming that important? Well, now that the first few months of 2010 are behind us, we thought it was time to take a look at where mobile stands.

So far, it looks like enthusiasm for smart phones is only growing. Back in January, Forrester Research published survey results showing the percentage of adults in the US with smart phones grew from 11 percent in 2008 to 17 percent in 2009. While you could be forgiven for thinking Apple’s iPhone was the most popular device, Forrester’s research found that Blackberries actually out-number them two to one.

A further 15 percent of US adults were found to own quick message devices – defined by Forrester as those that carry a qwerty keyboard and/or a touchscreen, but run on a proprietary software platform rather than a smart phone operating system. So that’s nearly one in every three US adults carrying a smart phone or quick message device.

Over in the UK, comScore had a similar story to tell. According to their research, there were approximately 48 million mobile subscribers aged 13 and over in the UK by October 2009. Of these, 13.3 million accessed the Internet from a mobile browser and just under 17 million used a mobile app of some sort.

comScore also found something that should please Google Maps: of the 17 million mobile subscribers who used an app in October 2009, maps were the most popular type of app, followed by weather, social networking and search apps.

For a more global perspective, we can look to Quantcast’s 2009  Mobile Web Trends Report, which had mobile’s share of Internet consumption growing by 148 percent as measured by pageviews. This is an impressive figure, but the company also points out that mobile accounted for just 0.99 percent of worldwide Internet consumption.

While smart phones might not be replacing computers as the browsing device of choice, there are still plenty of people out there buying them. Gartner has smart phone sales up 41.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 over the same period in 2008. According to mashable.com, market research firm IDC had similar findings, reporting that the number of smart phones shipping in the fourth quarter of 2009 was up 39 percent compared to Q4 2008.

In amongst all those figures, it seems a story about a global shift toward smart phones – if not away from computers – is emerging. With no sign of the trend slowing, we’re sticking by our prediction that some sort of mobile presence will be expected of agents by the end of the year.

Wondering how to establish your business in the mobile space? Start with this article on the various mobile website options available to agents.

A mobile presence will become a necessity. With the number of smart phone users growing by the day, there is an increasing expectation that your listings will be accessible via mobile. Whether it’s a website optimised for mobile, a downloadable application, or a yard sign that brings listing information to house hunters’ handsets, people will be looking for some way to access what you have to offer while they’re on the move.

Layar will start to gain real ground. As the number of smart phones grows steadily, so too will the number of mobile applications that make use of Layar’s Augmented Reality (AR) view of the world. With many real estate advertisers already putting AR to work, expect Layar to become much less unusual in 2010.

Mash-up applications – those that merge maps, real estate listings, and other neighbourhood information – will blow our minds. There are all kinds of possibilities for consumers and agents when it comes to online real estate: everything from finding the suburb with the lowest pollution levels to gauging where people most want to move to through an analysis of geo-tagged tweets.

Google will keep surprising us. 2009 saw Google make huge strides in online real estate. While there are still plenty of challenges to overcome, it seems highly unlikely that Google will slow down in 2010. For agents, the trick will be to stay on top of Google’s movements and focus on how each release can be used to their advantage.

Social media fatigue will set in. 2009 could easily be described as the Year of the Tweet, and Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube all saw substantial growth. But amongst people who use these tools for business, we predict 2010 will be the year the excitement wears off and many begin to focus on the return their social media use is bringing in.

Newspapers will sell even fewer ads. mediapost.com suggests 2010 could be the year newspapers hit bottom in terms of advertising revenue. Whether 2010 is the worst year for newspapers or if there are even slower years to come, the bottom line is that online advertising is only going to consolidate its position as the default option.

Now it’s your turn: have we hit the nail on the head or are we way off the mark? Bring on your best predictions for the new year in our comments.

[Image: theweatherpages.wordpress.com]

The recent National Association of Realtors conference in San Diego highlighted a number of technology trends emerging in the world of real estate. One of these was the use of mobile Internet, and we looked into whether agents should create their own mobile websites or invest in a branded, downloadable application.

The important thing to consider when choosing between these options is who your audience is, and how they will use your mobile presence. The cost of developing a downloadable application might be appropriate if you are targeting a large, tech-savvy audience. If, on the other hand, you don’t foresee a huge return on investing a branded application, stripping back your existing website to make it mobile-friendly might be more suitable.

One thing is clear: ignoring the mobile option is a risky strategy, as you will be bypassing an expanding market. Sales of Internet-enabled phones are increasing in Australia, the US and the Asia Pacific region.

In fact, a recent smart phone market analysis from Gartner put global sales at 41 million units in the third quarter of 2009, up 12.8 percent from the same period in 2008. And, as Mobile Tech Today reports, Telecom Trends International sees smart phone sales overtaking regular handsets by 2015.

Now that you’re convinced, let’s consider a few basic necessities for mobile websites. As Steve Ives, co-founder and CEO of UK mobile search company Taptu writes on venturebeat.com, slimming down the size of your existing website is an essential staring point. Ives also points out that mobile websites have to be “finger-friendly” to allow users to navigate via their touch screen.

If you have enough knowledge of website creation and design, you might want to start out by trying one of the many online guides on how to make your website mobile-friendly.

There are also a number of free mobile website creation options, such as mobisitegalore.com, bango.com and wirenode.com, that allow you to create simple websites compatible across mobile devices. WordPress users are in luck: mashable.com lists a string of options to transform WordPress websites for mobile.

If you’re not confident in tackling your mobile website yourself, shop around for a technology company that can do the heavy lifting and create an offering that represents your company in the best possible light.

It may take an initial outlay of time, and perhaps money, but with the expansion of the global mobile market, it’s more than likely an investment in a mobile website will be worthwhile.

Amongst the beads, bags, and books are a range of technology providers each offering a potential “silver bullet” to a realtor’s marketing needs. I therefore thought it would make sense to cover some of the technology “silver bullets” that were at the conference.

The first cab off the rank is mobile internet for realtors. Our next edition will look at the rise of video tours.

One clear trend at the NAR Conference is for realtors to have a presence on mobile devices. A range of companies including myAgent, Mobile Real Estate ID, Best Home 4 Me, and Smarter Agent, are providing consumers with the ability to search a realtor’s listings on their mobile device.

Most providers offer mobile websites however a few are offering downloadable mobile applications, primarily for the iPhone. These mobile sites and applications are fully agent branded and allow consumers to search through the agent’s listings and then to contact the agent.

The providers of downloadable applications also offer the realtor the ability to track where people are searching by tagging each user who downloads the application.

So should a realtor have a mobile presence and if so, should it be a mobile site or a downloadable application?

Firstly, having a mobile presence is probably best for realtors in the US. As the US is a multi-listing environment, a consumer looking at a realtor’s site is really looking at all listings in the market (well all those in the MLS).

If you are outside the US, having a mobile presence should be seen as part of a broader marketing plan and the mobile site should work on conjunction with other marketing activities. For example, someone driving past a house for sale with a sign out front should be able to quickly go to a realtor’s mobile site and see the information about that house.

It is also important to think about your mobile presence separately from your website. Your mobile presence needs to be customised – i.e. made fit for purpose. Therefore understanding how people will use your mobile presence is very important.

The second question is whether a realtor should have a mobile site versus downloadable application. My view is that they should have a mobile site. A mobile site is basically a version of your web site that is customised for use on a mobile device rather than on your computer.

I think that an application for an agent is nice but unlikely to be downloaded that often. Therefore a realtor needs to think about the cost of developing the application versus the likely return from having the application. The other issue is that you need to develop multiple versions of the application depending on the handset being used – iPhone, Droid etc.

Any which way you look at it, having a mobile presence is important for an agent.

While emarketer.com found that the amount of money spent on mobile advertising currently lags behind consumer use, the report argues that an increasing number of marketers are seeing the benefits of including mobiles in their advertising strategy.

“Disparate hardware and software platforms, competing app stores, rival search engines and a large, fragmented universe of agencies and service providers make the mobile ecosystem more daunting than the desktop environment,” said emarketer.com senior analyst Noah Elkin, the report’s author. “But overcoming this complexity pays dividends.”

Meanwhile, a Nielsen report reveals some complications when it comes to the way consumers currently use their mobiles. Focusing specifically on mobile video, the report describes its reach as “fairly humble” and points out that 52 percent of US mobile subscribers use phones that are unable to view videos at all. Perhaps more significantly, the report reveals a “revolving audience” for mobile video. In other words, there are plenty of users who test out the medium for less than a year before giving it up.

So, should mobile advertising be part of your marketing strategy? Despite the “daunting ecosystem” Elkin describes, many real estate marketers are clearly unperturbed, with new releases surfacing regularly. And, with the Nielsen report also revealing 70 percent year-on-year growth for mobile video, they may well have it right in advising us to “choose (cautious) optimism”.

[Image: flickr/Milica Sekulic]

“They can actually act while they are out in the field,” SikkU creator Ray Desmond told azstarnet.com. “Instant information on the value. Instant search on the MLS listings. It’s a different consumer today. They are shopping at a new mall, and you got to be there, or you are not going to sell anything.”

SikkU, which costs US$1.99 per month for consumers and $9.99 for real estate professionals, has been eight years in the making. azstarnet.com reports that, while the application currently only covers Phoenix, it will soon be launched in Tuscon and Las Vegas, with more cities to follow.

However, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for SikkU. The Tucson Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service has not yet agreed to feed its listings to the application.

“The question is where do the leads go, because the listings are owned by the broker,” Kim Clifton, president of the Tucson Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service, told azstarnet.com. “You have to put the listing broker’s info on there. So if you are a broker who doesn’t sign up, then where does that lead go?”

azstarnet.com also points out some of the ethical questions SikkU is facing, stating it directs buyers to loan officers and title companies rather than agents. Furthermore, Desmond owns Nova Home Loans, which is currently where potential home buyers are directed when they click on Sikku’s “get prequalified” link.

Nevertheless, SikkU is showing no signs of slowing down, offering agents the ability to integrate their account with their local MLS, as well as syndication to 15 websites including zillow.com, vast.com, oodle.com and hotpads.com.

Above all, SikkU raises the question: with so many mobile options already available, will users be enticed by the ability to complete so much of the home buying process online?

The connection between mobile technology and real estate marketing is something we’ve discussed before, looking at current options and their advantages. Now, there’s another development in mobile technology aimed at providing clients with real estate information and agents with branding, no matter which phone they’re using.

Over the next two months, US based mobile application company Smarter Agent is releasing what it claims will be the first mobile application to work across “almost all mobile devices, carriers, and formats”. In its press release, the company points to the fact that mobile applications are currently written in several different programming languages, and quotes the statistic that only one in five mobile devices is a “smart phone” – a mobile that operates like a PC, such as an iPhone.

The focus of many recent mobile applications has been on reaching the smart phone market, or on catering to one device in particular, but Smarter Agent says their application will be “the first mobile application to reach anyone with an interest in real estate, any way they know how to use their phone”.

So, what is the application, and what does it actually do? The Homes for Sale application has two main selling points. First, it uses GPS to allow homebuyers to search for MLS listing information on the move, as well as through the usual search criteria of city, price, number of bedrooms etc. Second, Homes for Sale can be branded by agents and connected to their own websites. The application displays the details of whichever agency listed a particular property, but Smarter Agent maintains that leads will be directed to the agency connected to the branded application.

The various features of the new application are perhaps best explained in Smarter Agent’s own demonstration video.

A number of high profile companies have already been convinced by Smarter Agent’s sales pitch. As the company states: “we have 500,000 agents under our affinity agreements with Prudential, Keller Williams, Exit Realty and Realogy, which includes CENTURY 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA and Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate.”

At this stage, mobile applications designed for agents seem relatively scarce, but at least one company has decided to try to fill this gap. mobileapploader.com, an online marketplace for mobile phone applications, has launched its first customisable application, Real Estate – Real Easy. The application is currently available without any setup or monthly fees. It’s made up of six customisable pages that include agent contact details, a search function, an “about” page with an “add to contacts” link, and a location based feedback page where clients can email their agents with reactions to a particular property or neighbourhood.

mobileapploader.com takes an agent’s contact details and creates their own branded version of the application, which can then be downloaded from the iPhone App Store. The idea is that clients will download the application and use it as they search for properties.

At the moment, Real Estate – Real Easy seems to be the only option for agents looking for a customisable mobile application. Most of the attention remains on creating a search application for mobiles that presents a true picture of the market in a user friendly way.

Mobile search applications

Many real estate portals are now working towards their own search applications for mobile phones. zillow.com offers a search application, Zillow Mobile, which also includes an instant property market value estimate, or Zestimate. trulia.com offers Trulia Mobile, and realestate.com.au also has its own mobile-specific website and an sms based property evaluation, to name just a few examples.

Other real estate search applications that are not connected to a specific portal include Puluwai and Home Finder. Puluwai is free, and agents can ensure their listings show up in its search by adding them to the Google database. Home Finder is also a free application that, according to its website “searches some of the top online real estate sources like Trulia and Google Base”.

One more real estate search application that has recently been launched by Smarter Agent is simply known as Real Estate. It claims to be “much more detailed and comprehensive than other mobile apps,” with information that is updated “at least once daily”.

Needless to say, the influx of these mobile, real-time search applications have print newspapers more than a little concerned.

[image: flickr/kidperez]