News/PR
September 12, 2006: HearthStone Homes Takes Virtual Tours To The IPod
By Neil Smith
No longer must you be near a computer terminal to take a virtual home tour.
All you need is your iPod.
If, that is, you’re taking virtual tour of a HearthStone Home.
Omaha homebuilder HearthStone Homes has partnered with local design and web studio Corporate 3 Design to offer animated virtual tours of some of their floor plans and home options on its website, www.omahanewhomes.com.
By downloading the virtual tours to a video iPod from the HearthStone Homes website, visitors can literally take the tours with them, to share and view any time.
“With today’s booming interest in advanced, on-the-go technology, HearthStone made the decision to research ways to reach a more savvy home-buying audience,” said Neil Smith, Chief Marketing Officer. “With more than 54 million U.S. consumers currently owning or using Apple’s iPod products, this seemed like a logical way to offer home buyers the latest in accessible home buying technology. After joining forces with Corporate 3 Design to repurpose the original tours for video iPod distribution, we were ready to introduce this new technology on our website.”
Since the launch of the video iPod download feature on August 14, 2006, more than 650,000 downloads of virtual tours have been recorded. Presently, HearthStone Homes’ Gallery Collection has five models with this functionality available. In Septpember, the company plans to add four additional tours that will have the video iPod download feature.