iPhone Wins, But Not For Long?
As more people take their search for a home on the go, which cities favor the iPhone and which prefer Android phones?
Mobile house hunting is picking up some serious steam. Right now, 20% of the window shopping that happens on Trulia during the weekends is done from a phone – a 33% spike from what it normally is during the week. Given this growing interest, we thought it would be fun to map out where our most tech-savvy real estate geeks reside.
Where the Mobile House Hunters Are
Any guesses on where this might be? San Francisco, you say. Nope, try again. Seattle? Sorry, my friend but no dice. Honestly, the answer isn’t very intuitive. See for yourself.
| # | U.S. City |
| 1. | Chicago, IL |
| 2. | New York, NY |
| 3. | Indianapolis, IN |
| 4. | Atlanta, GA |
| 5. | Dallas, TX |
You would expect (as many of us did) that the most tech-savvy house hunters would come from cities with a higher smartphone per capita.
So what gives? Well, let’s just say, being obsessed with the latest and greatest gadgets doesn’t mean you’re looking for a new home.
What it does suggest is that the smartphone owners in these cities are itching to move. In Atlanta, Chicago and Indianapolis – where homes are getting cheaper by the dozen – price is likely the biggest carrot on a stick. Meanwhile, New Yorkers and the folks in Dallas are probably trying to find greener pastures where the cost of living isn’t as high.
Android Strongholds in the Heartland
The second thing that we looked in this dataset was the ever-popular iPhone vs. Android question.
Well, to be honest, this isn’t much of a fair fight as I’m sure you can see by our overwhelmingly blue map. Trulia’s newly-minted Android app is still very much a “David” compared to our more established “Goliath” of an iPhone app. Nevertheless, we were still curious to know where our Android app was quick to dominate.
Here’s what we found:
| U.S. City | Android | iPhone | |
| 1. | Kansas City, MO | 65% | 35% |
| 2. | Greensboro, NC | 53% | 47% |
| 3. | Wilkes-Barre, PA | 53% | 47% |
| 4. | Cincinnati, OH | 52% | 48% |
| 5. | Baltimore, MD | 48% | 52% |
In just two weeks since it’s debut, our Android app has won the popular vote over our iPhone app in Kansas City, Greensboro, Wilkes-Barre and Cincinnati. It makes sense given that Google continues to outsell Apple on smartphones in the Heartland. It’s a modest start, but you’d best believe, this war ain’t over yet. It’s just a matter of time before the 23 million Android owners follow the Heartland’s lead to take their real estate search on the go.