A property marketing company thinks it could hit it big with a mobile phone-based service. But interest so far is patchy. Adam Tinworth reports
A few months ago, the papers were alive with the possibilities of WAP – the wireless access protocol – which brought the internet to mobile phones. Things, however, have since gone quiet.
That is because people are trying to work out what they can do with the technology. One firm, directly related to the property industry, thinks it has the right idea.
Phoenix, a firm better known for property marketing, is promoting a WAP-based system, but it is finding the process an uphill struggle.
The idea is simple: to give quick and easy access to information on property via phones. Users can type in a code, based on the postcode, that they have read off a letting board on a property. Details can then be supplied in condensed form on the phone’s screen.
“There’s been a lot of hype about WAP,” says Charles Smith, Phoenix’s chief of research. “In reality, I think there will only be a few applications for which it will actually be useful.”
WAP’s limitation is that it can handle only small packets of data in a single transmission. The data can, however, be supplied instantly. If the system took off, agreements with mortgage lenders would provide instant mortgage quotes as well.
Phoenix has been promoting the idea, particularly to the residential sector, since the early part of this year. A website, www.24hrhomes.co.uk, offers basic information.
In the four months since Estates Gazette first mentioned the system, however, interest has not been keen. Smith suggests that this is because many companies are focusing on web-based e-commerce. This is distracting them from the opportunities offered by mobile phones and m-commerce.
In fact, time could be running out. “I think we’re passing the window of opportunity on WAP,” says Smith.
He is not suggesting that the idea is dead in the water. He says the idea will be just as applicable to the third generation of mobile phones (3G), which will allow much greater amounts of data to be downloaded from the internet, including pictures.
“I don’t think we’ll have much luck with the residential market, but it could work with the commercial agents,” he says. However, he admits that this would require several large agents all committing to the system to make it work.
“We need a critical mass,” he says. “It really is all about getting a sufficient volume of people involved in the site.”
Once that is achieved, other companies could start buying into the data collected from users typing in the codes of buildings that interest them.
Useful information
“The ability to track where calls come from could be very useful,” says Smith. “That tells utilities companies or anyone else who wants the information about people who are thinking about moving premises.”
While the facility remains largely theoretical, others are starting to catch on to the basic concept.
“Two of the high street banks have come out with mortgage calculators through WAP phones in the past few months,” says Smith. However, the industry lacks a central push to take advantage of the technology.
But how did a property marketing firm end up promoting an idea like this? “We saw an opportunity and we developed an application,” says Smith.
Phoenix founder Peter Knight is quick to point out that the firm has always chosen to embrace technology head-on.
One particular memory is painful enough to drive him. Several years ago, before the interest in the internet hit fever pitch, Knight came up with the idea of a site listing properties for sale on the web. But he could not drum up interest for it and other things distracted him.
“I put it in the drawer and forgot about it,” sighs Knight.
As a result, he is keen to push forward with ideas, even if they don’t directly relate to an existing client. The company has a culture based on what Knight calls “FBIs” or fantastic big ideas. Staff are given leeway to develop ideas either to help a particular client or to develop the business.
For example, as part of the firm’s work for one housebuilder client, Phoenix conceived of a system where potential buyers could customise their house and its fit out on a touch-screen, getting an immediate quote on how that would affect the final house price. The firm is now looking at how this can be linked to the internet, facilitating direct ordering of necessary materials from suppliers.
Web-based advertising
The latest innovation is a web-based advertising application, OMSAP. Once Phoenix has settled on an outline for a series of advertisements, the basic information is loaded onto the web. The client can then choose where and how often he wants to run an ad, customise the advertising and keep track of spending to date.
“It cuts out so much time,” says Knight. “We spend a lot of time sending ads backwards and forwards trying to get everything improved. This way everything can be done online in a fraction of the time.”
