Auction Apps for the iPhone

Forbes Life has an interesting article on the new functionality of portable phones. The Apple iPhone now has an application for tracking sales, live streaming of prices through Liveauctioneers, and soon actual bidding for the middle level houses. Christie has an application available now and soon Sotehby's will follow, yet neither has stated they plan to allow live bidding through a smart phone application. ArtFact also plans a application, so the bidder can review past auction prices before bidding. I can see the potential for uses during an appraisal inspection or walk thru for quick reference information and values. All on a iPhone or smart phone with an internet connection.

I like technology, but I have never really embraced the use of the mobile phone over and above the original intended use, making phone calls. I have occasionally used texting to track down my son, but besides that, not much else. Perhaps technology is growing faster than I can or care to keep up with, and I love tech.

Forbes Life reports

Short of live bidding, the idea behind these iPhone apps--options for BlackBerrys have also been rolling out--is to make auctions more convenient and accessible. Gone is the need to navigate through Safari to reach an auction site: Touch the app and you're there. Once in, the best apps function a bit like portable versions of actual sites, with catalog and database access. Sale results are posted in real time. On LiveAuctioneers.com, a site providing services to 840 auction houses, the app accommodates absentee bidding.

With iPhones, pictures are paramount. The Christie's app optimizes the iPhone's pinch function so that when you enlarge, zoom in, or rotate an image, the quality is so clear it's the next best thing to inspecting it in person. And eBay's images are remarkably good. "Photo quality can make the difference between bidding or not bidding," says Christopher Knight, gallery director of Maison Gerard, an Art Deco dealer in New York. Ready access to databases is another attraction. If you're poised to bid on a case of 1990 Château Margaux, you can use an app (WinePrices.com, for one) to type in an object's name and get a list of previous prices realized. Such ease will be significant when ArtFact, the world's largest art-and-antiques database (53 million records), introduces its app this fall. "Sharing" functions may be the apps' biggest draw. "You can share images via e-mail or on your phone without [using] your laptop," says Michael Bruno, founder and president of 1stdibs.com, an online marketplace trafficking more than half a billion dollars in inventory including antique furniture, estate and new jewelry, and vintage couture and designer fashion annually. Its app is due next year.

To read the full Forbes Life article, click HERE.