You make a good point. Ideally, these things should work hand-in-hand (sorry for the pun).

But I do not necessarily agree with you that this is a *requirement*. Some applications will naturally lend themselves to the mobile platform, and Zillow may be one of them.

Brian you make a great point,the platform that receives the most visitors should be the company’s best asset. Secondary platforms should strive to emulate the functionality of the main platform.

We have an iphone application for our blog but I prefer our web based blog.

Also Google has an iphone search app, but I prefer the Google classic view when using my iphone, ditto for Twitter and Facebooks’s iphone apps.

Call me strange but I already used Trulia’s app in the exact manner as described in use case 1 above;
“Couple plans to go out looking for open homes on a Sunday. They drive to a neighborhood, then open the Trulia iPhone app and see what’s open around them.”

I did exactly this with my fiance, on a Sunday, looking for open houses. The filter was very useful since I already know what I can afford but car sickness and an inability to sort slowed me down (she was driving).

If only the app provided complete MLS listings and MLS sourced open house data (and my wife-to-be learns how to drive a stick or at least pulls over…).

You make a good point. Ideally, these things should work hand-in-hand (sorry for the pun).

But I do not necessarily agree with you that this is a *requirement*. Some applications will naturally lend themselves to the mobile platform, and Zillow may be one of them.

Your use cases are fantastic. But the same couple driving around in the neighborhood nicer than their own will eventually want deeper, more specific information. The mobile medium, for now, is about instant access to location-based shallow data. That same couple wont park their car in the nice neighborhood and really analyze the block / neighborhood / school system. They want high level. Fast, easy, relevant.

DirectTV gets it big time. They tie all three platforms together better than any other business out there. Zillow and Trulia should take note. Both Zillow and Trulia have awesome apps considering we’re in the infancy of planning cross-platform experiences.

I had clients who recently came to see homes, and they remarked that they used both Trulia and Zillow, when I asked them what they thought, they said both were okay, but that neither were as good as looking at agent sites or the public side of the MLS.

If one lives in a major metro area, Zillow is gonna be great. If you live like me, and most of the rest of America, it’s so-so at best.

Of course, that isn’t as big of a deal until someone who comes from one of those major metro areas (where the data is better) tries to use Zillow to move to my area. They assume the info will be just as robust and accurate. It ain’t. This is a disconnect that I think Zillow needs to work on.

I also realize, however, that when it comes to the 80-20 rule, I’m in the 80, so I’m not holding my breath.