Users will be able to access Harcourts’ mobile property websites automatically on any smartphone that has a web browser.

Jason Wills, Chief Information Officer for Harcourts International, suggests that this technology is leading edge and the ability for the websites to run on practically any smart mobile phone is exceptional.

“Many systems only cater for the iPhone or the Android but Harcourts’ approach is to not limit their customers to specific devices,” Mr Wills said.

“Let’s open up the website to all smart phones.  This is the future of web-based technology and not only do I want to have access to any site on my mobile phone, I want the site to look great and work well!

“I don’t want to have to download any apps; I just want websites to work simply. This is Harcourts’ approach to technology and you will see this as we develop more tablet/iPad websites,” Mr Wills continued.

The new mobile websites have all the basic features of the complete website, including easy to view property photos, maps, auto phone agent, open home details, contact office/agent feature, and access to Harcourts’ 15,000+ properties.

To access the websites, simply go to your phone’s web browser and type in www.harcourts.com.au or www.harcourts.co.nz.

The smartphone websites are the latest edition to Harcourts’ already impressive technology suite which includes next generation websites, the eCampaign application for the iPad, the Mobile Agent application for the iPad and iPhone, and the addition of QR Codes to the group’s marketing materials, amongst others.

Check out this review by Computerworld

Quick background – I have an iPhone 4 and my wife uses an Android.  When I bought my iPhone my 7 year old daughter was straight into it, touching the screen, downloading free games from the App store and without any problems or instruction – amazing.

Gave her the Android and the questions started flying.  Mainly around the size of the icons, the way the interface works and the not intuitive marketplace which is the Androids App store.

Now let’s jump to the other end of the age scale and give the same devices to my 90 year old Grandma.  Same story as my daughter.
You could take a number of generalizations from this basic test, but what strikes me is that maybe that is exactly how Apple tests their new products.  They stick a bunch of 7 year olds in a room with the latest product, the other room is full of the over 80′s and then the fun begins.

I believe their secret is if you can make a product that can be used by those two generations, then you cover all your bases and sell millions of devices!

Now if the Google Andriod team & Microsoft Windows Mobile team did the same thing as Apple, instead of using 18-35 year old test groups – they would have formidable products.  I guess time will tell!

Let the smart phone war continue…

Leading Real Estate Companies of the World^® is a global network of 600 premier real estate firms with 5,000 offices and 150,000 sales associates in more than 30 countries around the world.

Collectively, this group sold nearly 1 million homes worth $250 billion last year, more than any national real estate brand.

This conference allows Harcourts to compete against over 600 international real estate companies from throughout the world!   Members of the Harcourts team Mike & Irene Green and Katie McAleese recently attended the awards luncheon and have just sent through these results.

Results:

1^st place New Media (blogs, ipad, iphone, media centre, eBluebooks, Harcourts Answers)

1^st runner up: Luxury Portfolio branding and products

1^st runner up: Customer Service Referral

Top 3: Website Search Engine Optimisation

This is the first time Harcourts have entered our Technology products in the competition and we are really pleased with the results.  A wonderful team effort from all the staff involved in the various departments.

http://www.apple.com/nz/ipad/gallery/ads.html

The development team at Harcourts and Orsome Software are really proud to be one of the apps chosen by Apple to appear on their TV advertising campaign

We have also built another application called eCampaign which is used by our sales consultants to help market and appraise our customers property

I see 2011 as being another big year for mobile applications and Harcourts will be pursuing more developments in this area including targeting Android devices

I believe the answer is now no.  All you really need is a wireless broadband connection so you hook up your Macbook / iPad/ iPhone / PC / Laptop and your mobile phone.
Most people give out their mobile phone number as their first point of contact and if you’re like many of the Gen X & Y, you give out your Skype name or Windows Live Messenger ID.

So your grandparents can’t get hold of you now, but who cares, you don’t want them calling you anyway – just kidding, you should be visiting them face to face.

For me, I love keeping in touch with my brother-in-law in Taiwan via Skype, my friend in Perth Australia via Messenger, and my work colleague in Orange County CA via Skype Video calls.

With my friends in New Zealand, a lot of communication is via Facebook, and the majority of young and old are texting via their mobile phone.

My best guess is 4-6 years life span on the old land line phone and it could be even quicker with Telecom New Zealand rolling out some very competitive Google Android phones and 2 degrees offering pre-pay data plans for smart phones.

Will I miss the landline?  No way.  However, I do miss the original 10 hole dialer phone that would take a minute just to dial the numbers.  I see this turning up as a retro phone!

I’ve got to say that I was really disappointed.  Don’t get me wrong, it has some wonderful features (one touch photo shoot, office & exchange run great), but I believe they have really missed an opportunity to launch a great smartphone that could have cut into the iPhone & Android market share.  Let me explain…

I’ve used a variety of Windows CE / Windows Mobile phones between 2002-2007.  My company (Harcourts) built an app (Mobile Agent) to run on windows mobile that proved extremely successful.   Microsoft were on a roll with their mobile strategy, then they dropped the ball in 2007 when Apple brought out one of the most innovative & disruptive smartphone devices ever to reach the market.

Microsoft then went backwards, lost marketshare and for CIO’s like me, we had no choice but to adapt our enterprise software solutions for the iPhone.

Our companies Windows Mobile devices have dropped from around 65% down to 20% and that  35% loss by microsoft  has been snapped up by the iPhone.

In Australia our team of 2,000 sales consultants, approx 65% would be iPhone users.  This is a massive shift in 3 years.

Now I thought this year could be the year Microsoft strikes back with the ultimate smartphone, but guess what…they haven’t listened to what the users find infuriating about the iPhone and used this as leverage on the Windows Phone 7.

Here is what I mean.  Biggest gripe from iPhone users – can’t run Flash in a browser.  What a fantastic opportunity to hit Apple where it hurts.  But this wasn’t to be.  Win Phone 7 can’t run Flash either.  Ok, I can live with that and I believe Flash is on the way out, but at the very least I would have expected it to run HTML5.  Nup.  Not in this release.  Ok, how about a micosoft native product like Silverlight. Nup. Not in this release.

The good news is you can create Apps for Win Phone using Silverlight. um… The poor Microsoft marketing & sales team must be livid!  You stand on stage and announce that Flash/HTML5 & Silverlight cannot run in the browser, but you can develop apps using Silverlight?

What makes matters worse, I can no longer use my legacy Win Mob application, and if we re-engineer the app the only way to distribute is via the Marketplace hub.

So I’m back to square one.  Solution – we keep pushing hard with our iPhone/iPad Mobile Agent app and build an HTML5 version for the Android.

Hopefully in a couple of years Windows Mobile 7 will be HTML5 capable!

In my past life as a systems engineer, the talk around our office often came down to the processor speed of the latest PC.

We all had many qualifications  and one I was very proud of was my Compaq Technical Training certificate.  The date: October 1993 and I was qualified to work on a number of Compaq PC’s including, Portable III; Deskpro 286/12; 286e; 386/20e; SLT/286; the mighty deskpro M series and the Systempro Series to name a few.

During the next 5 years *Moore’s Law kicked in and we were amazed at how the processing speed of computers increased on a frequent basis.  Prices dropped on PC’s and laptops began to become affordable.  Miniaturization became common place and the old Luggable Laptop, was replaced by the Notebook and then later tablets.  I recall getting my hands on an Apple Newton mid 90′s. This was Apple’s first tablet OS platform .

In recent times Apple have changed the landscape again with the release of the iPhone & iPad.   Google are in the game as well with their Android operating system, which can run on a huge number of hardware devices.  So 20 years on, the latest talk in many Tech savvy offices revolves around comparing the processor speed of their phones.

Amazing and exciting.  In my first IT role I was tasked with selling Motorola Brick Cell phones and the super cool Motorola MicroTac.

Incredibly we were selling the Brick for $1,500 and the MicroTac for $2,500.  There was no talk of processor speed, the sell job was on the size.  But in reality, when you look at today’s modern phones, they really are just a mini-computer.  Nearly all phones have a web browser and you can send SMS messages very easily.  For me, I will miss the old brick.  It was my first cell phone and I carried it with pride – sure it could only make phone calls but what a novelty 20 years ago.

*  Moore’s law describes a long-term trend in the history of computing hardware. The number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has doubled approximately every two years.^[1] The trend has continued for more than half a century and is not expected to stop until 2015 or later.^[2]

So I’m sitting in my hotel, temperature is about 104 degrees.  I check Google Maps for the closest Apple Store.  Sure enough there is a store about 5 blocks from my hotel.
I decide to walk as I’ve come from a New Zealand Winter, so any sunshine is a good thing for my white skin.

I see the Apple sign in the distance and I’m thinking ‘sweet’ nearly there, and just as well as I’m beginning to melt in the sun.

What I find is a number of huge white  buildings with no sign of an Apple Store.  I keep walking and there are Apple logos on every entrance and on every block, but beside the sign is another sign that reads…”Apple employees only, no loitering”.

Yep you guessed it, I’ve arrived at Apple HQ.  No official outlet store, but they have the Apple Company store which sells merchandise. Unfortunately I have no room in my already overweight suitcase, so I pass on the Apple Mug and t-shirt.

So now I’m thinking, ‘How big is this facility?”  I kid you not, the Apple campus must be at least 3 blocks by 3 blocks.  There were buildings with the a Blue Apple logo outside, and on the other side of the street, there were buildings with Orange Apple logos.

I’m not certain what the different coloured logos mean but I’m sure a Mac fan will be able to fill me in.

Unfortunately Apple don’t do tours of the campus, but worth a walk around the outside just for the benefit of exercising and also for Mac fans, the chance to purchase Mac merchandise.

Apple HQ via Google Maps

Next time you’re in Cupertino, check it out.
Next time I’m back in San Jose, I’m going to Mountain View to check out Google’s HQ.