Zillow Updates iPhone App For New 3.0 OS Update

June 17, 2009
By: Michael Price
Author's Website: http://www.zillow.com

Zillow announced today that they have updated their recently released iPhone app. This comes very shortly on the heels of the much anticipated 3.0 upgrade to the iPhone operating system. According to the Zillow press release the most requested feature from the App’s user reviews included the ability to save searches, listing favorites and the ability to filter search results by beds, baths, status on market and price. All of these have been addressed in the update. One of the things I love about iPhone apps are developers that use the “Push” ability to show notifications directly on the “badge” (appliction button). For instance, the email program shows how many new and unread messages you have, or my TTD app will show how many outstanding things I need to do (I am testing the limits of that feature to be sure). Zillow has done the same to show how many new homes are listed that match your criteria. How cool is that? You can just glance at your phone to see if anything has changed, without the need to open the app and check the status. It sounds so simple, but it’s one of those simple touches that just seems to make things so much easier. We can finally start calling some of the devices “smart phones”. That’s a beautiful thing given the investment I have made in dumb devices over the years .

In order to check out the new Zillow iPhone app you’ll need to update your iPhone to the new 3.0 OS update before you install it. The app servers seem to be overwhelmed this afternoon, just keep trying. Be sure to leave a review, Zillow has been very responsive to making sure that users are getting the feature and experience they are looking for in an iPhone app.

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Acre

The Zillow iPhone app was pretty good before. Now it is terrific. They addressed all the major requests from the last version.

American Dream Realty Oahu

It looks like I am going to have top break down and replace my Blackberry with an iPhone. I recently got a MacBook Pro and loving it :-) I have been missing out on a lot of cool apps not having the iPhone.

Swansonager

While we're praising Apple, if you haven't seen the latest release of Safari 4, you should definitely check it out - some great stuff. They are claiming it's the fastest browser now, but Chrome is pretty smoking still, imo.

Michael Price

You're absolutely right, I have returned to using Safari as my primary browser. It would seem while Apple works on improving the core performance and features that need to be addressed in a browser, the Mozilla folks are starting to miss the boat a bit with FireFox, the latest release of FF has been very disappointing, in fact there are sites I use that won't even render a page. I have a post in draft mode regarding HTML 5 and the improvements we can look forward to when all of the browsers support it and Apple is way out in front in that regard, on the desktop and support in the iPhone version of Safari.

Spencer Rascoff

Spencer from Zillow here.
I've been using the new Zillow app for 2 days and although i'm biased, I think it's awesome. I'm on a business trip right now and it has been very cool to use it to help me get to know the neighborhoods here.

I showed it to an SVP at Bank of America last night and we "zillowed" his house and he was blown away by the app. Fun stuff.

Karen

Spencer,

Ultimately what is the value proposition of the app and who benefits from using it? Users don't need another mapping application and based on your own example, you use it like a card trick among friends, not a business tool.

As long as Zillow leads with 'zestimates' the company will overwhelmingly attract non-qualified buyers to its website. While the numbers might be big, they are of limited use to agents if the perception continues to be that most Zillow visitors are not actively in the market. While big portal numbers do have their place in winning a listing presentation, Zillow can not depend heavily on agent purchased advertising and expect to succeed long term.

Let's call this app what it is, a very well done device to generate PR. Its only use to agents is to show just how inaccurate zestimates can be and reinforce to buyers and sellers that a realtor is the single most accurate way to determine a home's value.

drewmeyers

Karen-
Of course I'm biased working at Zillow...but this is MUCH more than an app built to generate PR. I don't think 500k people would download the app if there was no value to a home buyer/seller/owner. Being able to see what's for sale and recently sold right around me is a pretty compelling offering in my opinion; as well as the ability to get a rough gauge of what homes in the immediate vicinity are worth. I was traveling on the east coast a few weeks ago, and constantly found myself pulling up the iPhone app to see what nearby condos were selling for.

2/3 of Zillow's traffic (8.9 million UUs last month) is looking to buy or sell in the next 2 years.

Thomas Johnson

Hi guys: Your favorite zestifarmer here. Any chance of a Blackberry iteration? There are more smartphone users out here than the ATT/Apple captives. Now that there is a blackberry dongle for Supra Keyboxes, REALTORS are moving off the Palm OS platform to BB. A Blackberry app would give Zillow exposure beyond the ATT/Apple clique.