“To be honest, I think the iPhone app — maybe not in this first version, but out on the horizon — might be better than our Web site”
That’s Zillow COO Spencer Rascoff in an Inman article covering the launch of the company’s iPhone app.
It’s a remarkable statement. And I agree with it. But I would go further: The Zillow iPhone app as it is today is better than Zillow website.
It’s killer: A magnetic blend of utility and fun in the palm of your hand.
This is a moment worth thinking about, for it is the first time a mobile online real estate experience has exceeded its big-screen counterpart.
Information in context. The right stuff in the right place at the right time. Optimized for a mobile form factor. That’s powerful. But until now it always seemed a bit out of reach. I’ve written about the mobile opportunity in real estate a lot over the past couple years. It’s always been an anticipatory exercise. Now we have something really good, now.
Rascoff reported on Saturday that after only two days, 8% of Zillow’s searches are coming from iPhones. The number of searches per user will decline, but the number of users will only increase. This will be a heavily used application.
Think about it: Trulia’s iPhone app is nice. But searching on Trulia.com is better.
Why?
Well, think through the use cases. For example:
A couple plans to go out looking for open homes on a Sunday. They drive to a neighborhood, then open the Trulia iPhone app and see what’s open around them.
That doesn’t sound right, does it?
Now this:
A couple is driving to the home of some new friends who live in a neighborhood nicer than their own. They like the neighborhood and wonder what it takes to live there. And, like most Americans, they are status-conscious. So they open the Zillow iPhone app and check out sale prices, Zestimates, and the price their new friends paid for their home.
That, to me, makes more sense.
We are now past the point when “having a mobile app” is good enough. The fun part has started – developing truly useful software that enhances consumers’ real estate experience where it matters most: Away from the desk.
Some questions I have:
1. Will the app be overloaded with data and features like the website or will Zillow create a suite of apps?
2. How will advertising be placed into the mix? Big brand sponsorships? Geo-targeted Showcase ads?
3. Does the dubious accuracy of the Zesitmate become less of an issue in a mobile context? In other words, will users be more willing to accept less perfect information if it is delivered more perfectly?
I don’t have the answers. But it will be fun to watch them emerge.
Exciting stuff!
Sign up for the 1000watt Spotlight e-newsletter
and keep up with the ideas, apps and people that are changing real estate.
15 Ways to Make Your Marketing Mobile
A mist of difference
10 Tools for MLS Awesomeness
[...] See the original post here: The era of “Yeah, we have a mobi… [...]
My issue with Zillow is, and will be the accuracy of the data. Until the data is more complete and more accurate, Zillow is a great shiny object, but almost entirely useless to me and people looking for real estate in my area. Heck, on my street, the addresses are on the wrong side of the street, and the assessments are assigned to the wrong addresses. It’s a mess.
I had clients who recently came to see homes, and they remarked that they used both Trulia and Zillow, when I asked them what they thought, they said both were okay, but that neither were as good as looking at agent sites or the public side of the MLS.
If one lives in a major metro area, Zillow is gonna be great. If you live like me, and most of the rest of America, it’s so-so at best.
Of course, that isn’t as big of a deal until someone who comes from one of those major metro areas (where the data is better) tries to use Zillow to move to my area. They assume the info will be just as robust and accurate. It ain’t. This is a disconnect that I think Zillow needs to work on.
I also realize, however, that when it comes to the 80-20 rule, I’m in the 80, so I’m not holding my breath.
Brian, I’m usually right there with you but I disagree a bit here. To say one platform is better tha they other is missing the point. The two platforms should work seamlessly together.
Your use cases are fantastic. But the same couple driving around in the neighborhood nicer than their own will eventually want deeper, more specific information. The mobile medium, for now, is about instant access to location-based shallow data. That same couple wont park their car in the nice neighborhood and really analyze the block / neighborhood / school system. They want high level. Fast, easy, relevant.
DirectTV gets it big time. They tie all three platforms together better than any other business out there. Zillow and Trulia should take note. Both Zillow and Trulia have awesome apps considering we’re in the infancy of planning cross-platform experiences.
Alex:
You make a good point. Ideally, these things should work hand-in-hand (sorry for the pun).
But I do not necessarily agree with you that this is a *requirement*. Some applications will naturally lend themselves to the mobile platform, and Zillow may be one of them.
Brian:
Call me strange but I already used Trulia’s app in the exact manner as described in use case 1 above;
“Couple plans to go out looking for open homes on a Sunday. They drive to a neighborhood, then open the Trulia iPhone app and see what’s open around them.”
I did exactly this with my fiance, on a Sunday, looking for open houses. The filter was very useful since I already know what I can afford but car sickness and an inability to sort slowed me down (she was driving).
If only the app provided complete MLS listings and MLS sourced open house data (and my wife-to-be learns how to drive a stick or at least pulls over…).
Agreed Brian. Im sure Zillow will fail if their mobile app outdoes their website considering the limited ways to make money via mobile right now and the $87M of pressure on Zillow’s back.
Some of the iphone apps are good and zillows appears better than their web site as it is content rich and useful.
Brian you make a great point,the platform that receives the most visitors should be the company’s best asset. Secondary platforms should strive to emulate the functionality of the main platform.
We have an iphone application for our blog but I prefer our web based blog.
Also Google has an iphone search app, but I prefer the Google classic view when using my iphone, ditto for Twitter and Facebooks’s iphone apps.
Alex:
You make a good point. Ideally, these things should work hand-in-hand (sorry for the pun).
But I do not necessarily agree with you that this is a *requirement*. Some applications will naturally lend themselves to the mobile platform, and Zillow may be one of them.