My plea to Apple and GE/Supra: eKey on iPhone.
The ultimate real estate phone?
Like most other professionals, I am faced with technological trade offs. A large line of devices compete for space in my pocket that used to just be for my wallet and keys. I was very happy when the smart phones came around and I was finally able to stop carrying a separate Palm Pilot that lived in a really clunky housing just to open lock boxes. Every time I’ve upgraded phones, I was wowed at first with new features I had but then disappointed at some other aspect of the phone/device.
The latest phone I have is the Palm Treo 800w. This is easily the best phone I’ve had to date. The reason that I chose this one is that it’s the only phone in the Sprint store with an infrared port. At the time, an infrared port was required on any device in order to open the iBox locks. Now, GE/Supra have released a key chain FOB which is a bluetooth to infrared adapter so real estate agents can now use their beloved Blackberries to open houses up for showings and previews. Whatever the case, my new Treo is awesome. It has GPS, it’s very small, lightweight and it has a decent thumboard. It would almost be the perfect phone if not for a couple fatal flaws. The first and worst is the battery life. It sucks. This phone has the worst and most unacceptable battery life I’ve ever encountered with a phone. I’m lucky to make it halfway through the day without sticking it on the charger. If I take the phone to Canada and don’t use the phone ALL day and then wake up in the morning, the phone is dead. The other flaws are minor in comparison but ragging on my Treo was not the point of this posting.
Enter the iPhone. At first glance it looks like the ultimate real estate phone. It has a great calendar system, needs no sync cables and Zillow’s new iPhone app just adds a cherry on top of it all. If you have not seen the Zillow iPhone app, you need to check it out. You open it up and get the values of homes you are walking or driving by in real time. Homes that are for sale or have “make me move” prices on them also show up. Zillow has upped the ante an truly made this the ultimate real estate phone except for one missing piece of the puzzle. There is currently no app for the iPhone that allows Realtors to unlock key boxes. For me, this would mean going back to the older style standalone eKey device. To me, this is completely unacceptable to have to carry two devices again. What would happen is that the eKey would be left at home on the cradle or somewhere else other than in my pocket where it needs to be.
Here is my plea to Apple and GE/Supra: Please put your heads together and get the eKey app up and running on the iPhone. Apple- You are missing a huge market of real estate professionals that would love to be sporting a shiny new iPhone. Furthermore, I know it seems like a step back in time but consider putting a full infrared port on your iPhone. I’ve seen countless times that people want to use their iPhone as a smart remote as well.
The last piece of the puzzle for me is the carrier. I know the iPhone will not be an AT&T exclusive forever. It’s just a matter of time. I’m on Sprint and as much as I like them, even I know an iPhone probably isn’t in their future. Apple Wireless Inc. anyone?
