Realtors are one of the single largest mobile sales forces in the U.S. Many have pioneered the use of wireless technologies including the cellular phone, the hand-held PalmPilot, the laptop computer, and other wireless modem devices. But Realtors are in a race to keep up with and to serve consumers, says Jonathan Greenblatt, director of product management for Homestore.

"The growth of wireless Internet access is happening faster than wired line access. Sales of non-PC Internet devices are outpacing the sales of PCs in U.S.," he says.

According to the e-Business Unit (EBU) of Cap Gemini America and Corechange, Inc., the number of people using cell phones for wireless data applications is expected to increase from the current three percent to an estimated 78 percent in the next 12 months.

Moreover, one-third of the U.S. population uses cell phones for business purposes, to send and receive email or business and personal information. Of this group, only 11 percent are currently using them for data applications, representing merely three percent of the entire population.

Seventy percent of the present users use wireless data applications on their cellphones at least once a day and 60 percent use it for at least 1 to 3 minutes per occasion. In the future, 88 percent will use it at least once a day and 19 percent will use it more than three times a day. Sixty-six percent will use it more than three minutes every time.

A majority prefers to use the wireless data applications for a variety of purposes. Fifty-two percent explained that they will use the functionality for a mix of e-mail, personal data, and business information, 24 percent will use it for e-mail and personal data and 13 percent will use it for e-mail only.

How closely these data resemble the user habits of Realtors remains to be seen, but the indicators are strong that Realtors will use wireless access even more intensely. "The research indicates that this is a market for heavy users," observes Greenblatt. "This indicates an enormous growth in wireless traffic data."

To serve the wireless Realtor, Homestore has a number of initiatives that form an overall strategy.

"Realtors are time-starved and work in a mobile environment," explains Greenblatt. " We are committed at Homestore to provide them with the tools that enable them to do their jobs more effectively, no matter what their information needs are and where they happen to be."

The Find, Communicate and Buy/Sell/Own Phases

Realtors serve consumers during all the phases of their home search, purchase and move-in. "Think about the Find phase, when consumers are searching for a home on Realtor.com," says Greenblatt. "We developed the Homestore PQA for the Palm VII Connected Organizer, wireless PalmPilot, a ground-breaking application that allows consumers to search Realtor.com listings. It is a built-in modem, a consumer can turn on the device and search Realtor.com for listings. We developed the application as a free application that can be downloaded off the Internet. According to Palm, it is the most popular and highest-rated real estate application available to users.

"In addition we are working with CreSenda Wireless, on a product called Wireless Realty which allows Realtors to search Realtor.com listings from their Palm V. The Palm V is the most popular best-selling version of the Palm Organizer. The CreSenda product utilizes the wireless, detachable modem, so it is similar to Palm VII PQA.

In other words, you don't have to have the latest PalmPilot to access listings and other information on the Internet.

Another popular wireless is WAP, Wireless Application Protocol, which uses a cell phone to access the Internet. If you have a WAP-enabled cell phone, Homestore has developed a version of Realtor.com that allows consumers and professionals to search listings. Most major phone service providers such as Sprint will offer WAP-enabled phones to access Realtor.com.

The Communicate phase Top Producer, Homestore's marketing, client, and business management software, offers a Palm version of its software that is both Palm V and VII enabled.

Palm makes computers just like Compaq or Dell, and they make their own operating system, much like Apple. "With Top Producer, they have created a version that works on Palm," says Greenblatt, "but Top Producer will also work on Handspring and Sony which are also using the Palm operating system."

In addition, WyldFyre has a WAP version of their MobileMLS, a new application that is already selling in several markets for Realtors. It allows Realtors to access their MLS with a WAP-enabled phone. The user can "hot call" the listing Realtor via the listing which comes to the WAP-enabled phone.

The Buy/Sell/Own phase

No one has broad band cell access but companies are working on the technologies. "We will continue to develop products that serve these phases of the process," says Greenblatt. "We are currently exploring how we can integrate broad band solutions and strategies that make sense for the Realtor."