Smarter Agent App Mobilizes Real Estate; Reveals Usage & Mobile Marketing Plans » mobilegroove

With nearly 1,000 downloads in the first week (!)  since releasing an update to the Netsize Guide 2010, it’s clear this comprehensive mobile analysis has succeeded in documenting the topics and trends that matter most. This new edition has also identified a unique distribution model that has allowed Smarter Agent — a provider of a real estate MLS (Multiple Listing Service) search application that allows users in the U.S. to conduct a local search of houses for sale and apartments for rent – to become the largest mobile real estate network in the world.

How did this company achieve this massive scale and reach for a mobile app? Smarter Agent offers a white-label app to ordinary real estate agents, who then effectively become re-distributors for the app. To date the company counts over 450,000 agents distributing the app.

Building on this momentum, Smarter Agent also has plans to include mobile marketing and advertising, content that would turn the mobile app into a branded utility. In practice, the app would promote shops and services house-hunting consumers would find relevant and useful.

Eric Blumberg, Smarter Agent President, Products & Technology, outlines a likely scenario. “We have the static screen when the app is locating, searching, downloading. For those three to five to ten seconds we could have a static screen app that could be ad from a hardware store or DIY chain. Customers can click on that ad if they’re interested, or they can just ignore it if they’re not.”

Smarter Agent interview excerpt

In his interview for the new Netsize Guide 2010 Eric also discusses app usage stats and consumer search behavior. He also explores the future for location-linked services everywhere.

Q: Smarter Agent offers a white-label app to ordinary real estate agents who then effectively become re-distributors for the app. Tell me more about your offer and your business model.

A: For the most part, the app is branded by other real estate companies. We have created a platform that allows any broker or realtor to provide its customers real estate search via our app on their mobile phone. When the app opens up on the phone, it brands to that individual broker or realtor. For the user it’s like having a realtor in their pocket, which is why real estate agents give it out to all their customers that are searching for real estate. We have partnered with national brokers [in the U.S.] like Prudential, Century 21 and Coldwell Banker, to get direct access to over 450,000 local agents.

The app shows the customer every property on offer and then, when the customer hits call to learn more, the call goes directly to the agent who branded the app. So, if a user drives by a house they like, they can use the app to place a call with their own broker or a major realtor on the spot to make an appointment.

Q: How do you make money from this model?

There is international play here and we have franchises that want us to go international. So far we’ve focused on the U.S. and we did the hardest thing first. We knew that you have to have carrier support because you are never going to take the carriers – or the carriers’ devices – out of the game. We got approval on each carrier and we also made every download free to the consumer. Across Sprint, for example, we’re 100-percent free for premium application.  On Verizon, we are $1.49 and that’s one of the least expensive premium location-aware applications available.

To make our money we’ve created a platform and we charge a licensing fee to the realtors and the brokers that want to brand our white-label app and give it out to their customers.  No matter how many users they have – 10,000 users, 20,000 users, whatever – we charge a monthly recurring licensing fee to those agents and brokers.

Q: Do have plans to extend to other verticals? Where do you see the opportunity – and where do you see the customers?

A: Right now the opportunity is the real estate sector. However, we see mobile becoming integral and important to all verticals. At some point the prefix ‘mobile’ will lose meaning because all verticals will be mobile. As a company – and this is true for any sector – if you don’t have a mobile strategy, you’re not going to survive. It’s just like when you had to go to the Web and have a presence there. Now you have to be on mobile and see it as just another access point.  This is where you’re going to gain business and also lose business if you don’t have a total mobile strategy.

Download the updated Netsize Guide 2010 to read the rest of this interview.

The new edition includes:

• Fully updated 2010 telecommunications market data on 40 countries globally
• Quarterly trending market data covering the period Q3 2009 to Q1 2010
• 33 interviews with thought leaders from the mobile industry and other sectors, including retail, advertising, and entertainment. These include: execs at EmFinders, Evernote, Flirtomatic, GeoVector, GetJar, Havas Digital Mobile, Layar, Marks & Spencer’s, NearbyNow, Netsize, Nokia NAVTEQ, PayPal Mobile, Scanbuy, SFR, Sony Ericsson, Sony Music Entertainment, UGC and Universal McCann; analysts and consultants from comScore, Informa Telecoms & Media, Dray & Associates, Innopay, Memodia and VisionMobile; and representatives of industry associations including Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft, Internet Advertising Bureau, Mobile Entertainment Forum and the Mobile Marketing Association.

New to the updated Guide are interviews with Tom Daly, Group Manager, Global Connections, The Coca-Cola Company; Fabrizio Capobianco, Funambol, CEO; Patrick Mork, CMO, GetJar; Eric Blumberg, President, Products & Technology, Smarter Agent; and Sienne Veit, Business Development Manager, New Technologies, M&S Direct (Marks & Spencer’s).

Five key mobile themes

The Netsize Guide 2010 identifies five key themes taking mobile to a new level of popularity and importance among consumers and businesses worldwide.

• Activation (the emergence of mobile as a platform for applications and the advance of app stores);
• Interaction (the evolution of mobile as a tool to communicate, capture and create content, and connect with social networks worldwide);
• Conversation (the role of mobile in the media and marketing mix allowing brands and companies to connect with consumers on the move);
• Transaction (the increasing acceptance of mobile for commerce, banking and customer service); and
• Transformation (the expansion of mobile to emerging and developing marketing and the arrival of a new era of user experience driven by advances in smartphones, location services and augmented reality/AR services and browsers).

The Netsize Guide 2010 also includes the results of the Mobile Trends Survey 2010, an online survey asking +1,000 mobile professionals and practitioners their views on these key themes and their insights into trends that top the industry agenda, including the advance of mobile applications stores, progress towards global mobile commerce and the increasing importance of mobile across a range of business verticals.

Satisfaction survey

The content associated with the Netsize Guide will continue where we left of last year. But don’t just read this valuable resource. Please also share your opinion of the Netsize Guide.

Please take a moment to take part in our Netsize Guide satisfaction survey. The questionnaire will take a few minutes to complete, and your feedback will help us to stay focused on what matters to you.

While you are online, please also visit the Netsize Guide companion sites (Mobile Renaissance and the Netsize briefing room here on MSearchGroove), where you can access new interviews, fresh content and valuable background articles.

Disclaimer: Netsize is an MSG client and supporter. Peggy Anne Salz is the author of the Netsize Guide.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 13th, 2010 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Briefing Rooms, Featured, Netsize. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.