We haven’t talked about the gPhone rumors, the possibly-apocryphal mobile phone alleged to be forthcoming from Google. I read about vaporware all the time, but I tend not to remark on it. Today is different.
Consider these conjectures from Seth:
My non-inside prediction of what the third-generation phone they ship will be like:
(Relatively) free
(Relatively) open
Ad supportedSo, any carrier can offer it (hence the free part), any developer can easily modify it/enhance it, and the thing is paid for by location-aware permission marketing. Anticipated, personal and relevant ads based on who you are, what you do and where you are. GPS-coded photographs from all over the world automatically appended to Google Maps. Free calls if you’re on a wifi network. And it won’t be nearly as design-wonderful as an iPhone. But it will be addictive and in many ways, better.
Emphasis: “Free calls if you’re on a wifi network.”
Stipulate all of this just for the sake of the argument. If it’s not true of the gPhone, we’re probably headed in this direction, perhaps even toward “free” ad-supported cellular service.
First: This could easily be the primary phone for many, many people. No more for-pay mobile service, and no more for-pay land lines.
Next: The gPhone could be the ideal second phone for busy people like Realtors. I’ve thought for a while that I might end up with a BlueTooth headset on each ear. Imagine making all of your showing calls from the gPhone. Now you can ignore your main phone with clients — which I think is good marketing — but you will know to take the gPhone calls, since they will have the access information you need. You could also stage intra-skullular conference calls, which probably is more amusing in concept than in reality.
Moreover: You could use the gPhone as the mobile analogue to your Yahoo mail account: A throwaway that you will throw away when the spam gets out of control.
There is an argument that people don’t respect things they get for free. That may not be true, or it may be progressively less true, but it remains that we treat free resources very differently than the stuff we have to pay for. A free phone would seem to me to provide very useful protections for my for-pay mobile phone.
Technorati Tags: real estate, real estate marketing
Mike says:
An interesting entry, but I’m not sure it could work. The reason why free internet works as a business is because there is just one website that google has to maintain. They charge people to advertise on it and they make money off of the advertisements. Google is a software company, not a hardware company. They’ve never made a phone before and if they were going to make one for free, I feel as if the quality would be so low that no one would want to use it, regardless of price. Otherwise how could they mass produce something like that and expect to recoup their production losses just from ad revenue? You don’t have to mass produce the internet… Who knows, maybe it will happen way down the road when wifi is ubiquitous, but I think there are some big obstacles to this becoming a reality.
September 4, 2007 — 8:23 am
Eric says:
I’m curious as well to see what will become of the gPhone. If they could keep it free.. that would be great. Right now I find myself trying to justify the monthly bill on mine..
September 4, 2007 — 10:36 am
Austin Real Estate Blog says:
I like the idea of using it as a second phone. I wonder if people get them for a low usage number if the advertising model will have problems.
September 4, 2007 — 4:43 pm
Dan Sullivan says:
I am curious about your comment regarding not answering clients phone calls as “good marketing”. Was this tongue in cheek, or is there a method to the madness?
September 4, 2007 — 5:10 pm
Greg Swann says:
When you are with clients, you should not take phone calls. If you do, you convey to them that they are less important to you than any random stranger on the phone. OTOH, you should leave your ringer on, so your clients can see that you are throwing your incoming calls into voicemail. The two together are a potent marketing message.
The idea here is to have a second phone for the
thoughtlessidioticdifferently-abled listers who can’t put showing instructions in the listing. That way, you can answer the second phone if you absolutely must.September 4, 2007 — 5:18 pm
Chris says:
I love Google!
I use there free 411 service all the time, it works well.
September 4, 2007 — 9:02 pm
Bridgett says:
OT- On the topic of not taking phone calls while you’re out with clients, I totally agree. There’s nothing worse than being taken care of by someone who decides to answer his/her phone instead of waiting on you. I learned that from a very successful business man when I was in college. Always take care of the person that is there in person first – he/she has the money that you are much more likely to get that day. The phone call should only be taken if it has something to do with your client’s needs at that time. And I do let my ringer ring when I am out with clients and then apologize for having forgotten to turn it off for their time.
October 6, 2008 — 12:47 pm