We’re proud to have worked on the site with their team as well as 1000 Watt Consulting. To meet the specifications from the Michael Saunders’ team, we added new technology to our platform that really pushes the envelope for “app-like” solutions that runs in the phone’s browser across multiple platforms including iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry. This was a fun project for us as it challenged us technically and we got to work with a great team. Below is a copy of the official press release…

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Michael Saunders & Company
Launches New Mobile Web Site

Empowers Consumers To Browse For Properties
On The Go From Any Web-Enabled Phone

SARASOTA, Florida—(May 3, 2011)—With the official launch today of its new mobile web site Michael Saunders & Company just made it easier and more efficient for buyers to actively search for properties on the go throughout Southwest Florida.

People arriving at michaelsaunders.com using the latest generation of hand-held mobile devices— an iPhone, Android, Blackberry or almost any other current make or model of  web-enabled phone—will now enjoy an online experience that makes it easy to search for properties anywhere, at any time, right from the palm of their hand.  No downloads are necessary to begin using the new mobile version of the Gulf Coast’s most-frequented real estate web site.  Consequently, getting there is fast—and free.

Consumers need only go to michaelsaunders.com from their smart phone to preview any property in Southwest Florida, provided it is listed on the MLS.  Their phone will automatically convert the site into the hand-held mobile version.  The site is people friendly, specifically enhanced to be viewed on a small screen and is completely free of advertising.  Buyers can search for properties anywhere; or zero-in on properties nearest their location.  They can also find open houses by neighborhood, location; and save properties of interest for future reference.

“It’s no secret that mobile Internet usage is growing,” says company founder and CEO, Michael Saunders in announcing the new service.  “But what you may not be aware of is the breathtaking speed at which this is occurring.  Within 18 months, more people will access the Internet through hand-held mobile devices than more traditional desktop or laptop computers.  That’s a massive shift in how buyers search for properties; and why we are proud to offer this new technology tool as yet another service to our buyers and sellers.”

In creating the new mobile web site, Michael Saunders & Company partnered with 1000 Watt Consulting, the California-based interactive marketing communications and design agency whose dedicated focus on the real estate industry makes it one of the most sought-after firms of its kind in the business.  1000 Watt Consulting was also instrumental in creating the new michaelsaunders.com, which debuted in August, 2010.

Also partnering in the creation of the new mobile web site was Aumnia, one of the nation’s premier mobile web companies, also headquartered in California.  Aumnia’s software platform enables businesses to “go mobile” by extending their existing web presence onto web-enabled mobile phones and mobile internet devices.

“We invest in the most innovative web technologies as a duty to our buyers and sellers; and indeed to our agents,”  Ms. Saunders explained.  “As such, we studied mobile web sites produced by other real estate companies around the country throughout our research and development.  After carefully weighing the options, we decided that a mobile web site was the most practical way to deliver the best experience to the largest number of consumers in our market.  It is available to any web-enabled mobile phone, not just some of them, and we can update it instantly.  We are very proud of our collaboration with Aumnia and 1000 Watt Consulting and what it has yielded for our clients, customers and agents.”

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About Michael Saunders & Company:

Now in its fourth decade of service to Southwest Florida, Michael Saunders & Company has grown from a single small office into a network of 24 full-service offices—with more than 500 professionally trained associates and 150 staff members.  Powerful world-wide affiliations—including Christie’s International Real Estate, Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, Luxury Portfolio International, Mayfair International Realty and the European Real Estate Network (EREN)—extend the company’s message to qualified buyers globally, ensuring the broadest possible exposure for our properties.   

Michael Saunders & Company is ranked as the 52^nd largest brokerage in dollar volume in the latest Real Trends 500 Survey of the 500 largest brokerages in the U.S. for 2011; and is included among the 35 most influential Realtors in luxury real estate.

For more information about Michael Saunders & Company, please call 1-888-552-5228 or visit us on the Web at MichaelSaunders.com.

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All development projects should be evaluated based on ROI. With the unprecedented growth we’re seeing in the mobile market, I feel like many businesses skip this necessary due diligence to follow media hype. Building something will get results – that I believe. But the real question needs to be, how can a business maximize their results based on a fixed budget.

Here at Aumnia, our clients are consumer-facing businesses that want mobile solutions to drive either customer acquisition (marketing/branding) or customer satisfaction (service). These businesses typically don’t charge consumers for mobile services since the business really has one goal when it comes to mobile… reach as many consumers as possible. The rationale being that with increased exposure, consumer-facing businesses have better odds to engage their target customers. Now coming back to the Mashable article, the author goes through a basic analysis and calculates the number of potential people a given mobile solution can reach for every dollar invested. He finds that businesses with a mobile website have the potential to reach 5x more people per dollar invested:

• Mobile websites: 2839 people per $
• Mobile app (iPhone only): 527 people per $
• Mobile app (iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry): 599 people per $

The calculation assumes average development costs of $30K for a cross-platform mobile website and $30K per mobile application. To see the rest of the assumptions, read the article.

I’m really excited to see an article like this come out. I hope it encourages more businesses to take the time and really evaluate their mobile strategy.

I was back home in Vancouver for the holidays and spent a good chunk of time reading, especially trying to clean out my blog reader that had “1000+” for every category. I powered through fascinating articles about mobile growth, usage, and trends. Rumors of new handsets expected this year. And, enjoyed discussions and hypothesis of what we can expect in 2011. The general consensus seems to be that Android is taking over the world, Apple will be Apple, and RIM leaves us scratching our heads. I came across a few articles that provided contrarian viewpoints, but the bulk of analysis pointed in the same direction. By the time New Year’s came around, I felt like I had a good grasp on what’s going to happen in 2011. Well.. that was until Jeff Yee (Aumnia’s head of engineering) sent me an email from Vancouver about his OBSERVATIONS during the holidays. Here’s a direct cut & paste of what he sent me…

“One thing that I found interesting was that BlackBerry users tend to stick together and I think it is because of the BlackBerry messenger app. If your friends use BlackBerry, there is a high probability that you will also use a BlackBerry. Because everyone in the group is using BlackBerry messenger to chat.

During the holidays, I went to a party with about 20 people. Almost everyone had a BlackBerry. Only 1 iPhone in the crowd. I was surprised. Then I went to another party with a completely different group of friends. And most of them had iPhones, a few BlackBerrys. What was even more surprising was that no one I ran into in the past 2 weeks had Android.

And then there is another group of friends with BlackBerry and iPhones, but they have no data plans. They only use it for voice and SMS.

And then there is my uncle. He has a BlackBerry but has no idea what that is and could care less. He only uses it to make phone calls because the phone was free, no data plan.”

As you can read, the email is pretty simple. But I believe Jeff’s observations have serious underlying statements. Is our perception of the mobile market simply dictated by our  circle of influence? Do consumers really know (or care) about the differences in mobile platforms?  We’re still in the early adoption phase for data plans, so when will mass market adoption occur? So much for all the reading and analysis I did over the holidays. Jeff’s harmless observations kicked up a bunch of questions in my head that I can’t wait to explore this year. If you have an opinion, let’s here it.

After trying a few things with the HTC support folks (who, by the way, were very easy to deal with), they suggested I return the device. Reluctantly, I agreed, and within a couple of days I had my replacement device.

Little did I realize how far things have come in the smartphone world in the last year, particularly with Android. I inserted and installed my old SIM and SD cards into the device, powered it up, entered my google account name and password, and within 10 minutes, my new phone was setup nearly identical to my old phone. All of my contacts, emails, wifi and network settings (including hotspots and encryption keys), and applications were on the new phone. Outside of a few miscellaneous settings and icons that needed to be arranged on the home screen, everything was just like I had it on the old phone. Best of all, it was all done over the air. No need to find any cables, hook up the phone to a computer, sync with an App Store or desktop application, or any other extra steps. In short, I was blown away!

I then realized that with Android, you are storing all of your data in the cloud. So when you change phones, all of your important data moves with you. Given the advances that are occurring in smartphone hardware these days, this is an absolutely liberating feeling to know that I can go out, pick up the latest Android device (like a Nexus S or G2), and within minutes be up and running just like before. No longer am I locked into a device, manufacturer or carrier. Without a doubt, there is serious power in the marriage of mobile computing and the cloud.

By the way, to make sure this works, you need to have checked the “Back up my data” and “Automatic restore” boxes under the Privacy Settings in Android (Go to Settings -> Privacy). Yes, I know it is a little unsettling knowing that all of your data is being stored on someone else’s servers, but I’d say the convenience is worth it.

For anyone out there who has went through the upgrade process lately with an iPhone or BlackBerry, is it as simple as what I went through with Android, or is it painful and complex?

The G2 is T-mobile’s follow up to the first commercial Android device, the G1. In the two years since the release of the G1, cellphones have changes radically, and the differences between the G1 and G2 are a great example of the advancements. The G2 takes advantage of T-mobile’s HSPA+ network, which allows for download speeds in excess of 20Mbps (faster than most home internet connections), and has a “stock” version of Android. A “stock” version of Android allows the Android operating system to be upgraded faster, which I have found to be a major benefit of the Nexus One that I’ve been using. I consistently get Android operating system updates 2-3 months before anyone else. The bottom line, if you’re looking for a clean Android experience and can’t get your hand on a Nexus One, the G2 is the next best thing.

Nokia also began shipping its N8 smartphone last week. While still the leader in both overall and smartphone shipments, Nokia has become all but forgotten due to all the iPhone and Android hype. It’s quite an unfortunate situation as Nokia still makes great hardware, and the N8 is no exception. However, since Nokia does not have a strong relationship with any of the major US carriers, no one has launched a major marketing initiative around the device. Unless Nokia really steps up both their marketing effort and carrier relationship status in the US, I would suspect that Nokia will continue to fade away into a niche player in the US market, which is a shame based on the quality of their hardware. If you’re seriously interested in picking up the device, your best bet is going to be to shell out the cash and buy the N8 directly from Nokia.

While I am not a huge tablet fan, BlackBerry maker RIM announced their tablet called the PlayBook last week. My first reaction was that RIM is making a huge mistake, until RIM co-CEO Mike Lazardis spoke about it. RIM is positioning the PlayBook as a companion to their smartphones targeted directly at business users. I think BlackBerry may be onto something. Businesses may be hesitant to buy employees iPads due to the level of distraction from games and apps that are available. With the PlayBook, enterprises will be given more control and the majority of applications will be business oriented. I suspect that businesses will be more receptive to buying their employees PlayBooks, which could overflow into consumer sales, much like their BlackBerry smartphone platform. In essence, I like the strategy, now it is up to RIM to execute.

In other handset news, another interesting device released last week was the R2-D2 themed Droid 2 from Motorola. Themed cellphones is an untapped market in my opinion. People are always looking for a way to stand out from the crowd, and themed cellphones are a great way to achieve it. I’m very curious to see how well these R2-D2 themed units sell. If they sell as well as I think they should, I suspect that you will see a lot more themed cellphones making their way into the market.

Finally, if you are interested in what the future holds for mobile phones, then take a look at this Mozilla video for a concept phone called “Seabird – A Community-driven Concept Phone.” Mozilla does not have any intention to build the phone, but it is clearly a sign of what is possible and what could be coming to mobile phones in the near future. I particularly like the idea of the included Bluetooth headset/mouse as well as the projectors that allow you to turn any surface into an interactive screen. I suspect that you will see phones within the next 2 or3 years with this type of technology, and I can’t wait!

In other handset news, Nokia and BlackBerry maker RIM, two manufacturers that are falling out of favor with investors, made major announcements last week. At their self-hosted Nokia World Show, Nokia touted that they are still the industry leader with 260,000 smartphone activations a day (compared to Android’s 200,000 and iOS’ 80,000). Unfortunately, perception is reality, and while Nokia still has the lead, they are suffering from a perception problem that John Biggs at MobileCrunch so eloquently describes. Along those same lines, RIM announced earnings last week. While the results blew past analyst expectations and a bright future was painted by management, the reality remains that Android continues to rapidly close the gap on RIM’s dominance in North America according to the latest ComScore stats. Both RIM and Nokia had better not be content to rest on their laurels because as they say in the mutual fund world – “past performance is not an indication of future performance.” I’m not surprised that Nokia and RIM are doing well when you look at past and current stats. When you look at trends, though, both Nokia and RIM should be concerned, and I mean very concerned.

As usual, I wanted to wrap up this week on a fun note. Motorola is launching a Star Wars themed R2-D2 Droid handset later this year on Verizon. While the hardware and wallpapers for the device look cool, they are not nearly as cool as this prototype Star Trek Communicator themed Nokia device. It’s quite a shame that only 14 were made back in 2008. I’m not even a Star Trek fan, and I found this concept prototype just too cool. Definitely worth spending the 9 minutes to watch the video.

Kicking things off, rumors about the iPhone becoming available outside of AT&T continue to grow, which given the results of a JD Power and Associates study highlighting AT&T’s poor network performance, can’t happen soon enough for many people. The chic rumor is that the iPhone is coming to Verizon given Apple’s orders for CDMA chipsets. While this is what most people want, another possibility raised last week is that Apple is creating a “world-phone” iPhone. In other words, one device that is compatible with mobile networks around the world. I think this a better possibility than a Verizon iPhone. A “world-phone” iPhone could also lead to the phone landing on T-mobile, which is another rumor that is gaining momentum. Of course, Apple’s lips are sealed, so I don’t suspect that we will know anything until the day after it happens, at best!

Speaking of AT&T, executives at the company have implied that the new BlackBerry Torch sales are not meeting expectations. Not a good sign for BlackBerry, who is continuing to struggle against the rising tide of Android devices. It is also rumored that many of BlackBerry’s best customers, like financial institutions, are starting to experiment with iPhone and Android devices. As I mentioned before, BlackBerry would be best served to keep their “bread-and-butter” enterprise customers happy and forget about competing in the consumer market.

In Android news, T-mobile announced the G2 device – the follow-on to the G1 who many consider “the original” Android device. The device looks great on paper, but the best part could be that it will run a stock Android build. In other words, no carrier crapware or special UI’s like Sense, TouchWiz or MotoBlur. If my NexusOne is any indication, this means that it will be one of the first devices to get new Android builds, which I’ve found to be one of the best, if not the best, feature of the NexusOne.

Another hot rumor last week is that Microsoft will launch Windows Phone 7 October 11 in a flashy New York City event. Microsoft has committed over $500MM to the launch of their latest mobile OS, so I would expect this event to be quite the party. Unfortunately, I don’t think that I’ll be on the invite list, but I’m willing to tag along as someone’s guest if you need company for the week….

Finally, Nokia is preparing to launch the Nokia N8, their latest attempt to head off the iPhone and Android juggernaut. In order to build buzz for the device, they released a rather racy, but not over the top, interactive video featuring a self-described “sizzling hot” model. Is Nokia worried that the N8 cannot stand on its own, or is this a genius move by Nokia to create buzz about the device? I’ve embedded the video below, and I’ll let you be the judge.

Why did these catch my attention? Well, earlier this year, Opera created quite a stir when it released its Opera Mini browser for the iPhone and then goaded Apple into approving it. Tech punidits were certain that Apple would reject it, but they didn’t. In hindsight, I’m not surprised.

I’ve used the Opera Mini browser on Android and seen it on the iPhone, and while it’s capable, it is not a replacement for the built-in browser. Over the last year, the stock Android browser has come a long way, and Safari for the iPhone has always been a good browser. Opera Mini can’t compete with either of these, and neither will Fennec or Skyfire.

The opportunity for third party browsers has passed. Today’s problem is not compressing web content for the mobile environment. The issue is providing the user with a relevant user experience over the mobile web. What do I mean by a relevant user experience? I mean a mobile website that takes advantage of the features of a mobile phone, such as the touchscreen and location-based capabilities, to present information and content that a user cares about when they’re mobile. For a real estate mobilesite it is searching for properties, for retail it is nearest locations and coupons, for restaurants it is reservations, directions and special offers. The point I’m making is pretty obvious: it’s not about trying to cram a website designed for a 24″ screen onto a 3″ screen, it’s about presenting content relevant to the mobile consumer in a usable manner.

Put simply, it’s not about the browser, it’s about the presentation of the content.

So while I am sure that the mobile browser technology from Mozilla, Skyfire, and Opera is top notch, my advice would be to stick with the stock browsers on your smartphone with one caveat. If your using a BlackBerry other than the Torch, any one of these three browsers is a huge step up from the old BlackBerry browser. The old BlackBerry browser can be summed up in one word – AWEFUL!

OK, enough of the rant. On a lighter note, a new smartphone app caught my eye this week called Bartab. It allows you to send an actual drink to a friend for a $1. You spend $1 to send your friend a mobile coupon for a drink that they redeem at the participating bar you specify. Your friend then has to pay an additional $1 to redeem the coupon. It’s been launched in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, but I’d love to hear from anyone who has. In particular, does it work as advertised?

Following up on last week’s statistics, two more interesting reports were released last week. The first I’d like to highlight is from Chetan Sharma, a consultant in the mobile industry. He reports on mobile statistics quarterly, and his latest report indicated that mobile phone penetration is the US is nearing 100%. The number needs to be taken with a grain of salt as a lot of people these days are carrying two phones (me included), so the real number is likely lower – probably around 75-80%. Still yet, even at 80%, it’s clear that the mobile market in the US is nearing saturation and that brands and companies who do not have a mobile marketing strategy are missing out on a great opportunity to connect with consumers.

The other interesting report was released by the Gartner Group. The first statistic to highlight from the report is that mobile device sales grew 13.8% last quarter, so the market is definitely healthy and growing. A more telling statistic was that Android surpassed the iPhone in units sold worldwide last quarter, and outsold RIM in the US. As I pointed out in last week’s wrap-up, Android just keeps on rolling. Units sold is a clear trend of future overall marketshare, so I would expect to see Android make more gains in overall handset marketshare in the coming quarters.

Speaking of Android, two new Android handsets of note were released last week – the Motorola Droid 2 on Verizon and the Dell Streak on AT&T. The Droid 2 is a refresh of the original Droid while the Streak is an interesting “hybrid” device. I say “hybrid” because it sports a 5″ screen which makes it much larger than what people consider a phone but smaller than the new tablet form factor established by the iPad. It seems like an awkward tweener size, so I’m expecting it to be a device people will use a companion to a simple flip phone rather than their primary device. Either way, the diversity of Android devices in terms of screen sizes, features and form factors is exactly why Android is dominating the market. As opposed to the one size fits all Apple approach and the flavor of the month QWERTY keyboard BlackBerry approach, Android devices are available in all sorts of shapes and sizes at all types of price ranges. It’s easy to find an Android device that has the features you want to fit your budget.

Finally for this week is a fun survey that was released by dating site OK Cupid. The survey talks about how to make yourself look more attractive in digital photos (seems like it would be important for online dating). So what does this have to do with mobile? Well, about halfway down the page is a claim that iPhone users have more sex than Android and BlackBerry owners. So here’s the question, are the results of the survey accurate, or do iPhone users just tend to stretch the truth more than their smartphone counterparts?

One company that is seeing declines in market share is RIM with their BlackBerry platform. BlackBerry has been the dominant smartphone in the US for what seems like forever. However, unless you are addicted to email or are a business user, BlackBerry’s hardware and overall user experience lags behind the iPhone and Android. As BlackBerry users are coming off contract, it’s obvious they are switching platforms. BlackBerry attempted to stem their losses with last week’s launch of the BlackBerry Torch 9800. While it closed the gap on features, it still does not put it on the same level as the iPhone or Android. At this point, RIM needs to stay focused on its bread and butter, the enterprise. As I pointed out in an article last week, RIM cannot serve both enterprise users and consumers with the same platform. They have a dominant position in the enterprise that they need to protect. So while the consumer market is where all the media attention is, RIM needs to stay focused on who’s paying their bills.

In the end, I see Android winning the market share game by dominating the middle and low end of the smartphone market, Apple winning the high end of the market, which is the most profitable, and RIM winning the enterprise. Left on the outside looking in are Nokia, Microsoft and HP. I’m not so sure that any of these three can carve out a piece of the market as I don’t think the smartphone is big enough, at least today, to support more than three strong companies.