While Mayor Castro has officially declared it the “decade of downtown,” doughnut-like development illustrates many San Antonians prefer to live, work and socialize on the outskirts of the city. Why? Popular opinion says many aren’t familiar with downtown and all it has to offer.
Think about the weekend buzz: It comes from restaurants and nightspots near 1604 and Stone Oak.
“When you’re not familiar with what to do and where to park, you’re not going to bother,” quips a 28-year-old professional male. “I don’t do directions.”
Now, problem solved and face saved, courtesy of your phone. Just a few clicks away, downtown now fits into the palm of your hand with Downtown Alliance (DTA), San Antonio’s new, free mobile app for smart phones.
Based on the non-profit’s website, www.downtownsanantonio.org, the app features a downtown business directory with maps, GPS-enabled directions, news, events, mobile coupons and more. Give it a whirl: Text “downtown” to 45384 to load.
Complete with a live feed, DTA’s new mobile application allows anyone to tap into what events are happening downtown, current restaurant specials, coupons and even a functional map component showing how to get around and where to park.
DTA, an organization dedicated to making downtown a better place to live, work, shop, eat and be entertained, partnered with local leading mobile technology firm BIBISI to offer the application for free.
“We are always looking for additional ways to improve the downtown experience, and getting to and around downtown are frequent questions for tourists and locals alike,” says DTA President Ben Brewer.
According to BIBISI’s current analytic data, it’s predicted that the DTA app will yield 15,000 unique users this month viewing over 250,000 pages.
It all boils down to information, explains Enrique Garza, CEO of San Antonio-based BIBISI Technologies, developer of the application.
“San Antonians want information, and they want it now,” Garza explains.
However, being tethered to a computer isn’t part of this picture, says BIBISI’s chief technology officer Roell Vento.
“It’s got to be mobile, smart phones are the future,” Vento says. “And it’s surprising how many marketers don’t even have a mobile strategy. Smart phone technology is a true game changer for our company and where its future lies.”
According to Nielsen Wire, “Smart phones are expected to overtake feature phones in the U.S. by 2011, and the popularity of mobile apps will only grow.”
Currently, there is a 99-percent penetration rate for phones with SMS, or texting, capabilities and 40 percent penetration for smart phones. The mobile app developed by BIBISI offers an SMS component that can provide assistance even if users can’t access the Internet through their phone.
It’s a brave new world. Vento points to Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt, who announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, earlier this year that Google’s official strategy position is “mobile first.”
“Everything they touch and everything that is created has a mobile first approach because they see a huge shift,” Vento continues. “There are five times as many searches on the mobile handset today than on desktops. It’s predicted that within three years, there will be more smart phones sold than computers.”
And that’s where BIBISI Technologies comes in, lending its brainpower to San Antonians, courtesy of the Downtown App.
Recognizing the potential of smart phones and the opportunities created to bolster downtown commerce and development, DTA decided to take the lead and launch the first informational mobile app. After much research, BIBISI Technologies was chosen to execute DTA’s app mission, based on its experience in the mobile marketing stratosphere.
“We now own SMS-based software and work closely with agencies on everything from technology to mobile marketing strategy and implementation,” Garza says.
The quaint and sleepy image of the city’s urban center is a thing of the past. According to the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau, approximately 25 million people visited San Antonio last year, a majority of who spent time downtown.
Fast forward to smart phone usage. Nielsen Ratings for Mobile Usage claim, as of January 2010, there is a 40 percent smart phone penetration in the United States. Combining the percentage of smart phone penetration and visitors in San Antonio, it’s reasonable to predict the possibility of approximately 10 million people with smart phones will be heading to San Antonio in the next year, packing an appetite for information.
Making downtown more accessible is key in its growth, explains Alyse Garber, DTA communications manager.
“While more and more people are getting smart phones, this, combined SMS/mobile application approach, enables us to bridge the digital divide more smoothly as we roll out a new tool that a majority of people downtown can utilize right now,” Garber says. “It is our hope that this becomes the go-to resource for everyone downtown, whether they live off of South Flores, in Stone Oak or in San Francisco.”
For more information on the DTA, visit www.downtownsanantonio.org.
