Find apartments on the go

Irvine Company Apartment Communities has rolled out a smartphone-optimized version of its Web site to extend its interactive experience to mobile users.

The mobile site helps users find apartments in the California regions of Orange County, West Los Angeles, San Diego and Silicon Valley. The company is also looking into developing an application.

Our strategy is to develop a mobile-friendly apartment site, taking advantage of the emerging standards, to deliver an easy to navigate site with a robust functionality that smartphone apartment seekers can use to search apartments by location, price, square footage and amenities, said Regina Plum, ecommerce manager at Irvine Company Apartment Communities, Orange County, CA.

Our target demographic is apartment seekers with Web kit smartphones, such as the iPhone and Android, who are likely to browse the Web from their mobile device when researching or looking to make a purchase, she said.

Irvine owns and operates approximately 115 apartment communities in California.

Sitewire is an interactive marketing agency. It designed and developed the mobile site for Irvine.

On-the-go apartments

Users can get real-time pricing and availability, see photo galleries and videos, get GPS-enabled driving directions and maps.

Additionally, users can browse by location, number of bedrooms, minimum or maximum price and by minimum or maximum square feet.

Here is a screen grab of a search:

Consumers can also view photos of the listings:

There is no denying the growth in consumer use of mobile devices as information resources, Ms. Plum said. Nielsen reported in December an amazing 67 million mobile Internet users.

It would be a huge miss not to supply these mobile web users a mobile friendly apartment site to search, she said.

In addition, users can search to see if the apartment has a washer or dryer, garage or allows cats and dogs.

There is a scheduling tool to book property tours.

Users can watch videos of the listings:

We are currently developing an app for our residents to use, Ms. Plum said. The apartment division is currently using text-for-info mobile marketing campaigns as a way to build leads for our sales teams and provide timely information to prospects.

Residents are also kept informed about events, lease reminders and other important community information via SMS, she said.

Associate Editor Rimma Kats covers media, television, research and social networks. Reach her at rimma@mobilemarketer.