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Windows PhoneCustomer Solution Case Study00Vehicle Pricing Data Provider Delivers “Best Smartphone App Yet” in Only Six WeeksOverviewCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: Manufacturing—Distribution and servicesCustomer ProfileKelley Blue Book is a principal source of new-vehicle and used-vehicle values in the United States. The company has 400-plus employees and is based in Irvine, California.Business SituationKelley Blue Book is committed to providing the best mobile application experience for users, which means presenting information when, where, and how users want it.SolutionThe company developed an app for Windows Phone 7 in only six weeks. BenefitsRicher, more user-friendly experienceRapid time-to-marketLow development and distribution costsAccess to new customersNew revenue opportunities“Silverlight makes it easy for designer and developer to work together, which meant that we could put more design effort into this app.”Andy Lapin, Chief Architect, Kelley Blue BookKelley Blue Book is a premier provider of vehicle pricing information to consumers and businesses. As part of its business strategy, the company is committed to delivering mobile applications capable of presenting vehicle information when, where, and how users want it—across all major smartphone platforms. Kelley Blue Book developed its app for Windows Phone 7 in only six weeks, enabling the company to capitalize on the Windows Phone initial release to drive customer acquisition—and deliver a rich and polished mobile application experience. In addition to rapid time-to-market and a more user-friendly app, the company has benefited from low software development and distribution costs, access to new customers, and new revenue opportunities.SituationKelley Blue Book is a premier provider of vehicle pricing information to consumers, automotive dealers, governments, and the finance and insurance industries. Since Kelley Blue Book first launched its website in 1995, the Internet has fueled the biggest growth in the company’s history—success due in large part to a continual focus on taking advantage of new technology to deliver a better customer experience. 5403852023745“Even though Neudesic hadn’t yet built a Windows Phone 7 app, I felt completely comfortable saying, ‘Give me a few good Silverlight or .NET developers and we won’t have any issues.’”Andy Lapin, Chief Architect, Kelley Blue Book00“Even though Neudesic hadn’t yet built a Windows Phone 7 app, I felt completely comfortable saying, ‘Give me a few good Silverlight or .NET developers and we won’t have any issues.’”Andy Lapin, Chief Architect, Kelley Blue BookIn 2008, Kelley Blue Book added support for mobile browsers to its website as a further means of delivering information when and where users want it. “Lots of people were visiting on iPhone, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry devices, but they would abandon the site after a single page view because it wasn’t optimized for their mobile devices,” says Andy Lapin, Chief Architect at Kelley Blue Book. “By delivering mobile versions of , we increased the number of page views to 7.5—about what it takes to find the price of a car.”Kelley Blue Book then began to experiment with how mobile applications—versus merely a website optimized for mobile browsers—could help the company engage more deeply with users. “Our first mobile app increased user engagement by a factor of two or three over our mobile-optimized website, with users consuming more information and coming back more often,” says Lapin. “Those results affirmed that we should be in the mobile apps business—or, more accurately, that we needed to become a leader in that business.”Realizing that the mobile applications market is still in its infancy, Kelley Blue Book began looking at opportunities to establish a leadership position—a move that led the company to focus on adding an app for Windows Phone 7 to its early experiments with mobile apps. “Our goal is to get the greatest possible coverage for mobile applications, entice advertisers to come to us when they want to do new mobile initiatives, and position ourselves to deliver new mobile applications quickly and cost-effectively,” says Lapin. “And everything we heard about Windows Phone 7 indicates that it will be the next big smartphone platform.”SolutionCreated by two software developers in only six weeks, the company’s interactive app for Windows Phone 7 provides extensive information to help users get the best deal possible when buying or selling a car. With just a few taps on the Windows Phone 7 multitouch screen, users can quickly access both new-car and used-car Kelley Blue Book Values, including MSRP, Invoice, and Fair Purchase Price—as well as Certified Pre-Owned, Suggested Retail, and Private Party Trade-In Values. The app also provides a myriad of other useful information for on-the-go car shoppers, including 360-degree photos of new cars, instant access to new-car video reviews from the expert editors of , the ability to find a local dealer, and Twitter feeds for and various car manufacturers. “With our app for Windows Phone 7, car shoppers will have the information they need on-hand to help make a confident purchase decision,” says Lapin.Development began in early August 2010, shortly after Kelley Blue Book approached Microsoft about being an early adopter of Windows Phone 7 from a development perspective. That led to the opportunity to participate in the Windows Phone 7 release—and the need to have an app ready in just a few short months. Fortunately, the technology was already familiar.5588003876675Figure 1. Kelley Blue Book uses panoramas in Windows Phone 7 to enable users to flick left or right to view different panes of a single, larger screen.00Figure 1. Kelley Blue Book uses panoramas in Windows Phone 7 to enable users to flick left or right to view different panes of a single, larger screen.“When we looked at what it would take to build a Windows Phone 7 app, we realized that we already had the required tools and skills in-house—including the Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 development environment and extensive experience with Microsoft Silverlight and the .NET Framework,” says Lapin. “Given how easy the app would be to develop and support, it made sense to start as soon as possible—and benefit from the added exposure of being a Showcase Partner for the Windows Phone 7 launch.”With existing development resources committed to other projects, Kelley Blue Book turned to Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Neudesic. “Even though Neudesic hadn’t yet built a Windows Phone 7 app, I felt completely comfortable saying, ‘Give me a few good Silverlight or .NET developers and we won’t have any issues,’” says Lapin. “That approach worked out great, and our opinion of Neudesic after this project is even stronger than it was before.”618490498157500During the next six weeks, the two Neudesic developers worked with two part-time designers to create the app by using a combination of Visual Studio 2010 and Microsoft Expression Blend 4. In building the app, Kelley Blue Book took advantage of built-in features in Windows Phone 7. “When users first use the app, it asks whether they want to allow it to use the phone’s location features to determine the user’s location—information that the app can then use to help find local dealers and provide prices for the local market,” says Lapin.Kelley Blue Book also made extensive use of panoramas in Windows Phone 7, which enable users to flick left or right to view different panes of a single, larger screen (Figure 1). “Windows Phone 7 panoramas helped us deliver a lot of information on the phone’s 800-by-480–pixel touchscreen,” says Lapin. “Panoramas are deeply baked into the entire Windows Phone 7 design, so anyone who uses our app will find the panoramas within it to be immediately familiar.”Shortly after finishing the app, Kelley Blue Book had it published on Windows Phone Marketplace. Users can find the app on the Marketplace Hub, which provides a single destination to explore, search for, try, and buy apps, music, and games for the phone. “On the Marketplace Hub, people can see reviews, ratings, and screenshots, and more—to help them decide if our app is right for them,” says Lapin.BenefitsWith its new app for Windows Phone 7, Kelley Blue Book is making it easier than ever for mobile users to access the company’s wealth of information. “When we saw the opportunity to create an app for the Windows Phone 7 platform, it was a no-brainer,” says Justin Yaros, Executive Vice President of Product Design and Development at Kelley Blue Book. “Kelley Blue Book is committed to being proactive in providing shoppers the information they need to help lessen the car-buying headache. Having trusted Kelley Blue Book Values, reviews, and a dealer locator readily available on Windows Phone 7 gives consumers the insight they need from any location.”Richer, More User-Friendly ExperienceWith Windows Phone 7, Kelley Blue Book has delivered a rich, user-friendly customer experience. “Everyone at the company really likes the Windows Phone 7 app,” says Lapin. “Silverlight makes it easy for designer and developer to work together, which meant that we could put more design effort into this app. In addition, the Metro UI model used by Windows Phone 7 fits very nicely with our overall information architecture and how we want to present that information. The Metro UI design standard is crisp, intuitive, and uncluttered, with solid guidance for delivering an app with a look and feel that’s consistent with the rest of the phone.”Lapin also attributes the app’s polished look and feel to a predictable hardware specification. “With Windows Phone 7, we had a single screen resolution to design for—and a powerful processor to ensure strong application performance and responsiveness,” he says.Rapid Time-to-MarketKelley Blue Book built its app for Windows Phone 7 in only six weeks—with two full-time developers and two part-time designers. “We had a prototype app working in just two weeks, and were able to spend the other four weeks refining the app’s performance, behavior, and appearance,” says Robert Altland, Principal Consultant at Neudesic. “The app relies on existing web services hosted by Kelley Blue Book, so literally no work was required on the backend.”Low Development and Distribution CostsWith all required tools already in-house, Kelley Blue Book was able to develop its app for Windows Phone 7 with minimal expense—less than half the cost of developing its apps for other phone platforms. “Our only development expenses were the two Neudesic developers for six weeks,” says Lapin. “We already had Visual Studio 2010 and Expression Blend 4, and the other things we needed were all downloadable from Microsoft at developer..”5308601985645“Microsoft’s execution in the development of Windows Phone 7 from the ground up has been flawless.”Steve Saxon, General Manager, Mobility, Neudesic00“Microsoft’s execution in the development of Windows Phone 7 from the ground up has been flawless.”Steve Saxon, General Manager, Mobility, NeudesicDistribution of the app on the Windows Phone Marketplace was also inexpensive—a low cost per year for an unlimited number of applications and application updates. “The Windows Phone Marketplace provides us with a great new distribution mechanism for reaching potential users,” says Lapin. “I especially like how users are notified on the Marketplace Tile on the Windows Phone 7 Start screen whenever there’s one or more app updates available—and can update all their apps with just three quick taps. This gives us an easy way to distribute application updates and help ensure that users are always running the latest and greatest version of our app.”Access to New CustomersFor Kelley Blue Book, the company’s efforts to be early-to-market with an app for Windows Phone 7 provide a means to acquire new users by linking itself to the success of the phone’s rapid adoption. “We see Windows Phone 7 as the next big smartphone platform,” says Lapin. “Given the ease of developing the app and distributing it on Windows Phone Marketplace, the app’s richness and ease of use, and the strong launch of Windows Phone 7 into the market, our decision to be early-to-market with an app of our own turned out to be the right one.”Steve Saxon, General Manager of Mobility at Neudesic, also sees Windows Phone 7 as the next major smartphone platform. “Microsoft’s execution in the development of Windows Phone 7 from the ground up has been flawless,” he says. “Given early market response to Windows Phone 7 and the resources Microsoft has put behind its new phone platform, any company with a serious mobile strategy can’t afford to ignore the opportunities it presents.” New Revenue OpportunitiesThe company’s app for Windows Phone 7 also has led to new business prospects. “Each new mobile platform we support provides the opportunity for new advertisers and increased advertising inventory,” says Lapin. “I can’t let all our secrets out of the bag, but I can say that our Windows Phone 7 app has led to a very interesting new advertising opportunity.”Kelley Blue Book’s recent work with Windows Phone 7 also puts the company in a prime position to capitalize on new opportunities. “From a staffing and skills perspective, we can easily support new mobile app initiatives on Windows Phone 7,” says Lapin. 28638507632700Software and ServicesWindows Phone 7Microsoft Visual StudioMicrosoft Visual Studio 2010 UltimateMicrosoft ExpressionMicrosoft Expression Blend 4TechnologiesMicrosoft SilverlightPartnersNeudesic00Software and ServicesWindows Phone 7Microsoft Visual StudioMicrosoft Visual Studio 2010 UltimateMicrosoft ExpressionMicrosoft Expression Blend 4TechnologiesMicrosoft SilverlightPartnersNeudesic5645158255000This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published February 201100This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.Document published February 20115403852056765For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:For more information about Neudesic, visit the website at: For more information about Kelley Blue Book, visit the website at: 00For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:For more information about Neudesic, visit the website at: For more information about Kelley Blue Book, visit the website at: Windows PhoneWindows Phone 7 is a different kind of phone, designed to bring together what you care about most—easier and faster. It delivers captivating phone experiences across work and play, enables productivity without compromise through Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Office Mobile, and provides a platform for compelling applications that can work across the phone, web, and PC.For more information on Windows Phone 7, go to: ................
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