Web-to-Mobile Widget - Send MLS information to your phone

3locations today, is delivering on its promise to provide Realtors and real estate companies with a way to send MLS information from a website to a mobile phone. This customizable widget will help users reduce their need to print real estate listings and increase the number of ways that Realtors can interact with their clients. The widget will automatically register a new user, generate a password and send them the real estate information they are requesting.
Currently, 3locations is only offering MLS information for the Greater Vancouver area but our system is designed to add real estate listings from other cities as their clients needs expand.

 
(Now active - try our widget for Vancouver, BC MLS information)

Listings are delivered using SMS (text messaging) with an embedded link to access the mobile web.
Today, it seems that everything is being built for the smartphone, with all major phone operating systems offering an application marketplace (iPhone App Store, Blackberry App World & Android App Market). We support this effort but 3locations is building compelling products that Realtors can provide to all their customers by SMS. Products that produce measurable results and hopefully sell homes! That being said, you should see the phone application we are working on. Coming soon… social networking for real estate!

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Bad News: 60% of teenagers text while driving in the U.S.

Vlingo, a mobile application development company released a report yesterday stating that 26 percent of people in the U.S. admit to texting while driving. The Consumer Mobile Messaging Habits Report polled nearly 5,000 people to come up with their findings. The report concluded that drivers in Tennessee were the worst offenders (or most honest) with 42% of respondents confirming they Drive While Texting (DWT) and Arizona posting the lowest score of 18.8%.
The Vlingo report states that the problem has to do with the explosive growth in the popularity of text messaging with nearly 60% of all mobile phone users texting on a regular basis in 2009. The problem increases when you break down the report by demographics, with 49% of adults aged  20 - 29 and where close to 60% of those aged 16 to 19 will read and send text messages while operating a motor vehicle.
The answer to this problem lies in tougher legislation. As of May 2009, only 7 states in the U.S. have laws completely prohibiting a person from using SMS while driving.
“Texting is such an integral component of our daily lives, and more people are texting. The good news is that many state legislatures are starting to take up this issue, and today more advanced technologies exist that can increase safety on the roads” says Dave Grannan, CEO of Vlingo.

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mlSMS - When only one listing will do

3locations has developed a product that will send a single MLS listing to your phone by SMS. This product is called mlSMS. It works by sending the command “MLS# v######” to our system’s phone number.
The 3locations system will automatically register a new user account and generate a password when it identifies a new user’s phone number or allocate the proper Realtor branding when it recognizes an existing account phone number.
This product is ideal for a number of marketing initiatives. There is the Keyword strategy where a Realtor will add a statement to their For Sale sign that reads… Text “MLS# V######” to +17783214411 for listing info.
As well, Realtors and real estate companies can use widgets on their websites to send MLS information to a user’s phone. This works well when the widget is placed alongside a listing on a web page or as an option in delivering MLS search results. mlSMS may be the easiest way to generate leads and better understand what your new clients are looking for.
3locations is committed to exploring new and better ways to increase productivity and improve communications. For more information on our products and services, please contact us by email: info (at) 3locations (dot) com

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Mobile advertising to grow 36% in 2009 and reach $229M

Fierce Mobile Content reported May 5, 2009 that U.S. mobile advertising will grow from $169 million in 2008 to revenues of $229 million in 2009. Global media and forecasting firm Magna credits the revenue growth to the increasing number of wireless subscribers using text messaging and the mobile web. The forecast predicts that SMS advertising will perform strongly, with text messaging platforms representing the “best near-term potential for advertisers” who want to use mobile phones to support broad-reaching marketing campaigns. This contrasts with slower growth rates for other types of mobile media campaigns such as mobile search, in-call media, mobile video, mobile coupons and mobile gaming.
Magna explains that “few (types of) media have captured the passions of consumers, marketers and inventory owners alike as the mobile advertising space has.” The popularity of mobile phones, with more than 270 million U.S. subscriptions at the end of 2008 (according to the CTIA) and the increasing use of text messaging (virtually every device has the capability to receive SMS) is supporting the growth in advertising revenues.
Also, smartphones like the Blackbery and iPhone are driving growth with the popularity of phone applications among consumers, marketers and carriers. This results in exponentially higher levels of data (and mobile web) consumption. This segment of the market will continue to expand rapidly as more mobile operating systems create “App Stores” to drive similar products to a wider range of devices.

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MLSearch: listing information, when & where you need it

3locations is developing Mobile MLS Solutions for Realtors and real estate companies. Our core product is MLSearch. It allows users to search for and receive real estate listing information on their phone. Our goal is to create the easiest and fastest way to find MLS information. We beleive MLSearch will beat any product on any device in finding active listings and we are looking forward to testing our theory.
MLSearch works by text messaging an address to our system’s phone number. Our criteria does not require the exact address of a real estate listing to produce search results, it will simply deliver the three closest active listings to the desired location. We decided that 3 is the ideal number for each search to ensure that the user will receive the information they are looking for and two comparable listings.
Through a third-party database access agreement with local real estate boards, we download all of the MLS listings and geocode them with latitude and longitude coordinates. This allows us to preform proximity search requests by address, neighbourhood or intersection. As well, we can determine the distance between two listings or between a listing and another location (i.e. school, restaurant, store or work).
The best feature of this service is that it works with all phones. Text messaging is a core service and its usage increased 160% in 2008 over the previous year. The key to the success of SMS has been its simplicity, reach, price and reliability. About 75 billion SMS text messages were sent in June, 2008 averaging about 2.5 billion messages a day in the U.S.
For more information on 3locations and the Mobile MLS Solutions we are developing, please contact seanbrawley@gmail.com

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