That’s because the local scribe and reviewer just launched her second mobile app, the Nat Decants Mobile Wine App for BlackBerry, iPhone and Google Android phones. It still pairs wines for eager consumers, but also pulls content from her website and adds a “virtual cellar” feature meant to store the names of favourites for next time, among other features.
“So this really goes to the next level, and maybe to the next 10 levels, because I’ve converted my whole website into an app,” she explains. Ms. MacLean says she hired California-based Cerado Inc. to develop the program.
“Because mobile is the way it’s all going – people often want wine and food info when they’re outside their home.
“(And) what this is doing is bringing traditional, older worlds like wine and real estate – which is a very person-to-person business – into a (new) era,” adds Ms. MacLean. “And these apps are proving to be very powerful for older, traditionally paper-based businesses.”
Indeed, many so-called “traditional” businesses are quickly learning the power of wireless applications. CIBC, the Canadian bank, recently launched its CIBC Mobile Banking app for iPhone. Various newspapers and media outlets have also launched wireless apps over the past several months, hoping to harness the power of pixellated mobility.
And local Royal LePage real estate agent Ian Charlebois, based out of the company’s Pretoria Avenue office, has also gotten into the mobile act with his Ottawa Real Estate offering on the iTunes App Store. It was launched in early February and allows potential buyers to flag potential buys, while at the same time tracking their location via GPS and relaying that information back to the agent.
He says a California company helped him produce the iPhone version, and that he’s working with a British firm to develop BlackBerrry and Android versions of the software.
Regardless of platform, Mr. Charlebois says his app has been a hit with clients. “(Customers) have thanked me for building it,” he says, adding the mobile app often helps speed the process of home prospecting.
“It’s about helping real people in real time,” he says.
Both Mr. Charlebois and Ms. MacLean add that by being a mobile app first-mover in their respective fields won’t only help their business now, but also in the future as they build on the success of current projects. “I don’t think I have any competitors in this yet, but I know they’re coming,” says Ms. MacLean.
“And in the meantime, I’ll be adding more content and more features. My other advantage is that I’ll have a year of market learning (on the competition).”
