The famous auction house Christie’s – founded in 1766, a well-established and appreciated name which for years has evoked the idea of beauty and splendour for its exceptional pieces – has launched an application for the iPhone, Apple’s mobile device which would be reductive to call a mobile phone.
Christie’s, which for a long time has satisfied the most demanding collectors offering excellence in the field of art, of antiques, of wine, of jewels, photos and relics of the pop culture, is trying to launch art into the digital era with a new application which will allow to view works at auction on the iPhone and iPod Touch. The application, developed in collaboration with Kargo, has been available since last Wednesday and can be downloaded free from Christie’s website or from the company’s pages on Facebook and Twitter, or from the iTunes App Store. 
The baptism started with the Impressionists’ section, which always meets success, starting from a drawing by Picasso which had never been seen and from works by Monet and Renoir. For the time being, the application allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to access the virtual version of Christie’s catalogues, complete with high-definition images of the lots offered, and to view real time sale results. Furthermore, users can request the evaluation of their own pieces by showing them to an expert figure, as it already happens (but with a different modality) seven days a week in the London saleroom in South Kensington, by sending a photo of the object taken with the iPhone photo-camera.
The more scrupulous customers can also analyse in detail the works of about 450 auctions, zooming and rotating the lots proposed thanks to the features available on both of Apple’s devices, both the iPhone and iPod Toucb. Therefore, once the software has been installed, customers can browse through the works to find the ones they are interested in or see the most relevant ones, getting information on the descriptions and details of the pieces and evaluating carefully the proposals also thanks to the images included. For who is already familiar with internet and with mobile phones the use is simple: you can choose a lot by selecting it from a textual list, which is merely descriptive and indicates the lot number, title of the work and estimate, or if you choose the preview modality a miniature version of all the pieces of a determined category will appear. At that point all you need to do is select an object to see the full-screen and high-resolution image, all in the palm of a hand. 
At the moment the software allows to get information about the programming of auctions in the whole world, about places and times when they will take place, and it also offers detailed information about the various services offered by Christie’s. However, the renowned auction house is going to go further: its intent is to develop, for the future, a further application which gives the chance to make offers, and therefore purchases, directly from your iPhone as it already happens for the more accessible Ebay.
Michael O’Neal, manager of Christie’s digital media department, said that the new function originates from the need to exploit the increasing use of mobile devices by customers interested in the world of auctions. Then he added: “We hope to attract new customers, but the objective is also to provide a convenient instrument to those who are already are customers and would like to open up to the new technologies”.
While some auction houses, in times of crisis, try to keep afloat by making cuts on expenses and staff, new approach methods are emerging and developing. Last year Christie’s had already inaugurated an information system via SMS, to inform its potential customers about possibly interesting auctions and update them on the offers during the auction. Christie’s LIVE, this is the name of the multimedia system which allows customers to make real time offers, has already given excellent results: in 2008 it yielded 82 million dollars thanks to online sales, gaining for the auction house more than a third of the offer registrations and about 11% of the lots were sold through online offers.