Last week, I talked about how the iPad ( and devices like it ) can become a strategic advantage for your business.
I believe that every organization (not just “business”) needs to put some strategic thought into how (or if) a location-enabled, touch device like this can help them, but restaurants & real estate are easy to relate to, so that’s where we’ll go.
Let’s start with restaurants
Imagine that a tourist arrives and opens up their “find a place to eat” iPad app and tells it what they want.
They decide on Italian, so they tap the screen to narrow the list. Nine places that have told the world they serve italian food appear on the map with directions, distance and review info.
The app could check for open tables via OpenTable.com. It show reviews from Yelp and UrbanSpoon, among others. All of this is presented automatically in an easy-to-understand layout that you can touch around in to see details.
After checking the restaurants that meet your needs (all of that is front and center on a touchable, interactive map), you can reserve a table with a few taps.
Because your app knows you like jazz, it might also display a few touchable icons for *nearby* local jazz venues, complete with gig time, cover charge, dress code (if any) and so on.
In other places, the services I mentioned are heavily used. When tourists come to town, they try to use them here. If you aren’t on the services I mentioned, they might never find you. They might end up at a chain restaurants because they’re a known quantity.
Geeky type folks call apps like this a “mashup”. You take a bunch of data from different sources and mash it together (like mix-ins at your favorite ice cream place), creating a new thing.
GPS vs location-enabled
You’re in front of a home that has curb appeal, so you touch the “Should I buy this home?” button to open a real estate mashup app.
Like the restaurant search app, the “buy this house?” app is location-enabled, meaning it knows where it is (123 Main Street, Kalispell MT 59901, for example).
That may seem ho-hum, since GPS chips are in all new phones these days, but having a GPS chip and being location-enabled aren’t the same. The GPS chip in most of your phones is only there so 911 operators can figure out where you are.
Access to that GPS chip is often limited to the cell provider’s mobile apps, and that’s intentional (I asked). Fortunately, pressure from phone vendors (like Blackberry and HTC) and the competition from AT&T is forcing them to open up.
Buy my house, please
Our location-enabled iPad knows where it is, so when you pull up in front of a house and open the home app, it can display info in that context – very powerful.
It’ll show you the closest schools, which you can touch for bus route and contact info. It can display icons showing the nearby home addresses of sex offenders (public information), property tax rates, crime density, recent crimes at that and nearby addresses, homes in tax arrears, length of time on the market (that home down the street is similar to this one and has been on the market 313 days), playgrounds, bike paths and so on.
The app might also show you which company/agent has the home listed (as well as their historical performance and reputation among buyers / sellers), when it last sold and at what price, what recent comps (nearby sales of similar homes) exist and so on.
Much of this data is public information and this conceptual app simply puts the pieces together in an understandable, easy-to-navigate format.
That’s where the contentious discussion will start.
The brick wall around real estate listing data is going to be that market’s Alamo (perception, not reality). Listing data is only a differentiator for a not-so-valuable agent. For a strong agent, it’s gravy. Even so, I think you’ll see them fight tooth and nail to retain control of it.
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a business, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site or contact him via email at mriffey at flatheadbeacon.com.