PROView - September 2007 - (Page 14) The iPhone - Is it Realtor® Ready? by Matthew Simmons, Director of Information Technology By now, everyone has heard the buzz about the long-awaited iPhone from Apple. Riding high on the success of the iPod and iTunes music store, Apple is making a claim to revolutionize the portable phone industry. With a clever touch screen and features like visual voicemail, music and video playback and more, Apple appears to be giving the current stable of smartphones a run for their money. So what does this mean for the Real estate professional that wants to stay on the cutting edge of the technology curve? Is the iPhone a must-have tool for the serious professional, or is it just an expensive toy? Here are some pros and cons to help you decide. PROS Wi-Fi connectivity The iPhone can, and does, connect to available Wi-Fi networks with ease. This allows you to enjoy internet connectivity anywhere an open wireless connection is available. While other cellular providers offer devices with this functionality, many charge a premium for the privilege. Excellent web browsing The iPhone comes with Apples homegrown web browser, Safari – which creates a new standard for using the web on a mobile device. Instead of relying on webpages optimized for handhelds, Safari renders webpages just as a computer would. Some clever zooming and scrolling features allow reading small text up-close and personal. Great Images The iPhone comes with a 2.0 megapixel camera that takes excellent quality pictures, very useful for the Realtor on the go. Talk Time The iPhone has a claimed 8 hours of talk time, 6 hours of Internet use, 7 hours of video playback or 24 hours of audio playback. In addition to this, it has a claimed standby time of 250 hours (10 days). Email Support Support for most popular email platforms, including Yahoo, Gmail, and AOL. The iPhone also supports Exchange server (though your administrator will have to make sure IMAP is enabled). It will also support any POP3 mail account. 14 PINELLAS REALTOR® ORGANIZATION Image Courtesy of Apple CONS Slower Data Network AT&T (formerly Cingular), the exclusive carrier for the iPhone, chose to utilize the slower legacy EDGE network for the iPhones data connection, in lieu of its faster (but less available) 3G network. This will mean slower data download speeds in areas with no available Wi-Fi. No MLS or Supra support Since the iPhone only runs Safari, and Safari is not supported by our MLS vendor, there is no compatibility implied with the Tempo system. Supra, a subsidiary of GE, has never been big on Mac compatibility, so there is not likely to be any porting of the eKey or eData applications to the iPhone platform. No MMS While you may be able to take great pictures, there is no Multimedia Messaging functionality built into the iPhone (at the time of this article). Images can be attached to emails, but not sent directly from the phone without having an email account configured. No Removable Battery While the claimed talk time sounds impressive, all batteries will die eventually, and the one in the iPhone can’t be replaced via an access panel like many other smartphones have. Once the battery dies, you would have to send the device back to Apple to have it replaced. Not a great option for a device you use daily. However, a cottage industry of DIY battery replacement has emerged to fill this need for the iPod, so it’s likely the same will happen for the iPhone. No ‘push’ Email If you’re a current blackberry user and have become accustomed to ‘push’ email (where messages are delivered immediately to your phone), you’ll have to get used to waiting 15 minutes between messages, as that is the shortest interval the iPhone will check email servers. Overall, the iPhone is a clever device that lives up to most of the hype, but whether it’s a good fit for Realtors® will remain to be seen. There are good and bad points alike. Many will simply purchase it for the ‘oooh-ahhh’ factor, and for those people that is probably enough reason. For more information about the iPhone, go to http://www. apple.com/iphone September 2007 http://www.apple.com/iphone http://www.apple.com/iphone
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