• International Data Corporation predicts 12% rise in smartphones sales
• Gartner forecasted 102 billion app downloads in 2013, rising to 269 billion in 2017
• Christmas 2013 saw a record-breaking number of app downloads (Flurry)

2013 saw the number of apps available on both Apple and Google hit the magic one million with both platforms well over the 50 billion download mark by the end of the year.  Indeed with International Data Corporation predicting a 12% rise in the sales of smartphones worldwide for 2014, the number of apps being created and subsequently downloaded is only going to multiply.

Today you are unlikely to need to pay for the privilege of having a new app on your phone.  Rising competition has meant that consumers can almost always choose a free app or ‘Lite’ version rather than parting with cash. In fact technology researcher Gartner predicts that by 2017, 94.5% of downloads will be for free apps – some 269 billion downloads.

No industry is untouched by the presence of apps, from education to entertainment, sports to mapping; anyone with a smartphone has the ability to push notifications every hour of every day wherever they are in the world.

The property industry has benefitted too from the birth of the app; this technology has enabled buyers to have the latest properties delivered to their smartphones within moments of coming to market.

Instead of staring into estate agent’s windows or trawling through the local newspaper, help is literally at hand, on your mobile phone, with intuitive property search functions, mortgage calculators, mapping tools, local area information including flood threats, broadband speed, commuter times, historic house prices and crime statistics and direct contact channels.

One Surrey estate agent leading the way with their cutting edge app is Barton Wyatt.   Downloads of the app have rocketed with almost 650 downloads in the four months to Christmas 2013 with this flurry of activity driving the Barton Wyatt team to review the existing app and incorporate new functions to make it even more useful to both purchasers and vendors.

James Wyatt, Partner of Barton Wyatt, comments:

“As Chair of the Surrey National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and a bit of a gadget head, I do like to lead the way with technology. I use apps all the time in my private life with the wife and kids filling up the iPad with games, online shopping and travel apps so it’s only natural that we looked to extend this to our business too.

“I’m proud to say that Barton Wyatt was one of the very first estate agents to launch a property app back in January 2011.   Now three years later we have a total number of downloads which has surpassed even my expectations at over 3,000. But as with everything hi-tech today, our app is not static and requires ongoing evolution in line with user expectations and the latest technological advancements so ensure it remains cutting edge.”

With this in mind, James and the team, have just launched the latest 2014 edition of the Barton Wyatt app available on both Apple and Android platforms. Embracing the popularity of the iPhone 5, the new app makes use of the full height of the screen and superior resolution, is fully compatible with the iOS7 update, employs a new user interface with swipe functionality, supports EPC PDF files  and the app conforms to the latest privacy regulations.

Importantly, the new app complies with the latest lettings legislation regards displaying Tenant Fees, offers a new Mortgage Calculator and displays Recent Searches for ease of use.

For more information on this market leading property app call Barton Wyatt on 01344 843 000 or visit www.bartonwyatt.co.uk