Bill Gates once boldly stated that the personal computer was the way of the future, a pretty amazing statement considering that at the time virtually no one had a computer in their home. He was of course right… at least for a while.
Sitting at home surfing the net became the norm for many South Africans until the advances of mobile phone technology took hold. Suddenly anyone and everyone was able to get into the action, trawling the web at anytime from any place. The results have been explosive. A recent report by Morgan Stanley states that the mobile web will overtake the desktop Internet by the year 2015.
Two major aspects driving this unbelievable growth are the proliferation of smart-phones and better data coverage throughout. With this in mind, companies have been working hard to develop their mobile web applications.
Private Property has been at the forefront of the online industry and has launched a brand new iPhone application. The new app enables browsers to search and find thousands of properties that are both for sale and rent from estate agents, private sellers and landlords nationwide. The redesigned apps focus on simplicity while giving the browser greater exposure to South African properties.
The company’s development team have focussed on making browsing for property on an iPhone as fluid and effortless as possible. Browsers can scroll through the detailed, up to date listings and view high quality pictures of the properties on the site. If pictures aren’t enough, Private Property has added video walkthroughs of the property that allow the user to get a real feel for the place. The only way for a potential buyer to get a better view of the property would be for them to personally visit the listing.
Furthermore, the location-based search function allows browsers to search for properties within a chosen area. The search criteria that is selected is saved for future use so one can apply it to other areas if needs be. Once the user has found a property they are interested in, they can easily contact the agent or private seller from within the app, or save the details in their contacts on the iPhone for future reference. Another great function is the favourite’s folder where interested parties can save properties to view later.
Things to look forward to include the augmented reality concept, which will allow Private Property to become really innovative in facilitating the search for property. Users would be able to simply access the application and hold up their phones in a particular area to scan for available listed property. Even more impressive will be the combination of the upcoming Property Values Index and augmented reality. Combined, home shoppers will be able to find the value of any property around them using the same easy process.
Private Property plans to build mobile apps that cater for Blackberry and Android in the near future. You can purchase the new iPhone application from the App Store here, and be sure to visit Private Property’s revamped mobile site.
