Now that can be changed to “go wireless to find a new home,” as Source Media Group and FLIPP Advertising brings the wonder of instant information at your fingertips to Calgary’s new home and condo industry with the launch of Source Mobile (http://www.sourcemobile.ca.).

Source Mobile is a mobile only protocol that allows homebuyers the freedom to browse new homes and condos available from Calgary’s finest builders and developers, with real-time, pricing, photos, floor plans and mapping features. All through your handheld smart phone.

“We are really excited with Source Mobile,” says Source Media Group co-owner, Richard MacQuarrie. “Consumers now have the opportunity to view current quick possession or show homes by community, be that a new home or condo, simply by engaging with the device they have in their hand. We believe a critical element of real estate marketing lies in the continued acceptance of this new technology.

The new application is a brilliant way to ride the wave of smart phone technology, which has taken the market by storm.

“As cell phone users become more and more accustomed to turning to their mobile devices for everything from home listings to restaurant reviews, a well thought out mobile presence will soon be expected as part of a company’s marketing communications. In the very near future, not having an operational mobile presence will be as archaic as not having a website,” says FLIPP Advertising’s Craig Lepan.

“A well-thought-out mobile presence offers companies an opportunity to interact with their audience in a way that previously did not exist. In the case of Source Mobile, it’s the equivalent of packing hundreds of magazines into the pocket of every cell phone user. Those magazines are complete with up-to-date prices, images and links to Google maps for directions,” Lepan adds.

Smart, new world
Smart phones — such as Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s Blackberry — are overtaking the cellphone industry, as sales grew 27 per cent globally in the April-June 2009 quarter compared to year-ago levels, according to Gartner, Inc., the world’s leading information technology research company. Apple, in fact, recently announced that it sold over a million of its newest smart phone, the iPhone 3Gs, three days after it was launched.

The smart phone has indeed become a game-changer in the world of information technology, and Source Mobile taps in to this energetic new technology to provide Alberta homebuyers the most up-to-date and important information to narrow their home search.

It also effectively augments Source Media Group’s various publications — including Alberta’s leading real estate magazines, Calgary Condo Living, Calgary New Home Living and Edmonton Home & Condo Living — as well as its forthcoming network of real estate websites. Together they present an ever-reliable resource of timely information to its audience.

Pinpoint marketing
The new technology has become an efficient marketing tool for the condo and new home industry in Alberta. Homes by Avi pioneered the use of mobile technology to market its line of products to stunning success.

“It has been a hugely successful endeavour,” says Homes by Avi Corporate Marketing Manager Anita Bustos. “It has played a major role for us selling almost all of our spec line of houses.”

The award-winning builder has been so happy with their mobile program that Bustos says they will be adding a “new component” to it this fall. “We’re expanding our use of this technology.”

Gold Seal Homes is one of the first subscribers to Source Mobile and they find it an efficient way to get information about their product out there. “It is one more avenue from which we can provide clients with information,” says Gold Seal’s Murray Pound.

“It is also a very easy system to use to manage all of my listings, it’s a very smooth convenient way for me to bring up new listings,” he adds.

It had an unexpected pleasant effect on marketing his brand. “I was in a recent business meeting in Ontario, and I was meeting with five marketing-savvy professionals, and when I showed them the Gold Seal mobile site, they were all very impressed, saying they haven’t seen anything like it. They almost couldn’t believe that a home builder like me from a small town in Alberta would have this kind of high-tech marketing device at my disposal.”

Trico Homes had also recently joined the bandwagon, and Trico Homes Creative Director Wendee Bishop says it is very much the “wave of the future.”

“People are so much more tech savvy now — doesn’t matter what age they are — mobile technology is a smart and easy way for them to get timely information, and we want to be able to provide this valuable service,” she adds.

MacQuarrie says Source Mobile will be a cutting edge marketing tool of the future, and the way to do business in the wireless world.

“As more builders identify the incredible deployment cost advantages Source Mobile has to offer them, the consumer benefits by having the most comprehensive new home real estate website available right at their fingertips,” he adds. NL