iPIX and Move.com Announce Alliance to Promote Real Estate Virtual Tours
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Agreement Expected to Expand Usage Beyond iPIX's Recent Sale of 350,000 Virtual Tours for Cendant Affiliates
PALO ALTO, Calif. and PARSIPPANY, N.J., July 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Move.com Group, operator of the move.com relocation, real estate and home-related services portal, announced today an agreement with Internet Pictures Corporation (Nasdaq: IPIX - news; ``iPIX'') for the promotion of 360-degree iPIX(TM) Virtual Tours throughout the move.com network of Web sites. By promoting virtual tours to both consumers and real estate professionals, the agreement aims to expand the unprecedented purchase of 350,000 exterior virtual tours recently facilitated by Cendant Internet Group (CIG) for use by Cendant's CENTURY 21®, COLDWELL BANKER® and ERA® franchisees. Both CIG and Move.com Group are units of Cendant Corporation (NYSE: CD - news).
The move.com network already has one of the largest collections of iPIX(TM) Virtual Tours on the Internet. Through the new marketing agreement, move.com will promote the sale of iPIX virtual tours targeted to both agents and home-buyers through online advertisements, traditional advertising and other marketing activities. The alliance is expected to accelerate the sale of upgraded ``four scene'' interior virtual tours to enhance the initial 350,000 exterior virtual tours arranged by Cendant.
``Virtual home tours are a key ingredient as we build the most consumer-friendly relocation portal on the Internet,'' said Sarah Nolan, president and CEO of Move.com Group. ``This alliance is an important step toward building awareness and usage of iPIX(TM) Virtual Tours, which are invaluable tools in the home-buying and home-selling process.''
Real estate professionals use iPIX's Internet-based Virtual Tours to allow potential buyers to virtually ``step inside'' any home, apartment, or commercial property for sale or lease. Navigating with a mouse, viewers can look around the inside or outside of a home in any direction, just as if they were standing on the property. iPIX(TM) Virtual Tours allow viewers to change the point of view, zoom in on a favorite item, or zoom out for a wider perspective, something still photos do not allow. Providing potential homebuyers an immersive, interactive image, iPIX visual content solutions overcome the limitations of traditional house hunting, enabling buyers to make more informed decisions that result in time and money savings.
``With move.com quickly establishing itself as a leading online real estate destination, we see a tremendous opportunity to grow the iPIX brand and market penetration,'' said Jim Phillips, CEO of iPIX. ``We are not only looking to sell virtual tours to move.com's millions of visitors and their agents, but to make iPIX tours just as indispensable to marketing a home as a listing flyer or yard sign.''
About move.com
Move.com is Cendant Corporation's (NYSE: CD - news) relocation, real estate and home-related services portal. It integrates and enhances the offline and online efforts of Cendant's CENTURY 21®, COLDWELL BANKER® and ERA® residential real estate brands; its Web sites including Rent Net, HouseNet, Senior Housing Net, CorporateHousing.Net, and SelfStorage.Net; and its other real estate business units including Cendant Mobility, Cendant Mortgage, National Home Connections, and Welcome Wagon. Move.com draws upon the capabilities and existing infrastructure of Cendant's lines of business and other selected partners to assist customers with virtually everything they need before, during and after their move. Built upon the success of Rent Net's online apartment guide business model, move.com has distribution agreements with Internet market leaders, including Alta Vista, About.com, Yahoo, AOL, Excite, and Ask Jeeves. Move.com is headquartered in San Francisco, Calif.
About iPIX
iPIX (Nasdaq: IPIX - news) is the standard for delivery of Internet Pictures. Web sites and Internet connected devices dependent on visual content rely on iPIX. The iPIX end-to-end visual content solution enables the capture, processing, hosting, and distribution of rich media to thousands of Internet sites and millions of Internet connected devices. A broad array of industries, including real estate, e-retail, automotive, travel, publishing, and entertainment, are capitalizing on iPIX Internet picture delivery to give viewers more information, more interaction and a richer online experience. The company is headquartered in Oak Ridge, Tennessee with co-headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
About Cendant Internet Group
Cendant Internet Group is aggressively pursuing Internet, broadband and wireless related convergence opportunities for Cendant with the objective of leveraging its businesses in the areas of travel, real estate and direct marketing, as well as its proven core competencies in the areas of franchising, outsourcing, cross-selling and preferred alliance programs. Cendant Internet Group will achieve this goal by incubating or developing new initiatives and/or by working with leading Internet businesses through marketing alliances, strategic investments and M&A activity.
Internet Pictures and iPIX are trademarks and service marks of Internet Pictures Corporation.
This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the safe harbors created by those sections. Statements concerning the implementation of Internet Pictures Corporation's services and the benefits expected to result from those services constitute forward-looking statements and are based on current expectations. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include failure of Internet Pictures Corporation to integrate its services with the Web sites of Cendant Corporation and the failure of properties owned or managed by Cendant Corporation to adopt and utilize such services. The matters discussed in this press release also involve risks and uncertainties described from time to time in Internet Pictures Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In particular, see ``Risk Factors'' in the prospectus t filed with the SEC on May 4, 2000 (http://www.sec.gov).
SOURCE: Move.com Group |
