UDR Inc. (UDR), a leading multifamily real estate investment trust (REIT), recently augmented its apartment search application for Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iPhone and iPod users, enabling consumers who are more reliant on smartphones than landlines or personal computers to find apartments in a more convenient way.
 
The upgraded technology utilizes smartphone’s built-in spatial awareness components such as GPS, accelerometer, and compass to create digitally enhanced pictures of apartments. Furthermore, the new application software enables users to point their smartphones in any direction to locate and view available apartments under the search parameters within a radius of 10 mile, by utilizing Layar – an augmented reality browser.
 
The demographic and technographic data for the mobile market strategically fits into UDR’s up-market customer segmentation. Users can search apartments on all possible parameters such as location, price, and number of bedrooms and bathrooms, which are updated daily. To make it more user-friendly, the application even allows users to reserve and book an apartment until the location is visited for a tour.
 
With the augmented reality search application, UDR has currently extended its reach to approximately 63 million Americans who use their mobile devices to access the Internet and search available apartments. The company owns, operates, acquires, develops, and renovates middle-market apartment communities across the U.S., the majority of which are concentrated in the Western and Mid-Atlantic regions of the country.
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