NEW YORK — Saffronart, the world’s largest fine-art online auction house announced the launch of an innovative mobile application that enables auction participants to bid for their favorite art works and jewelry on the Apple iPhone. As of December 8, 2009, Saffronart’s mobile application is now available for download at www.saffronart.com and through Apple’s App Store.
A pioneer of online art auctions, Saffronart, founded in 2000, is a global company with deep Indian roots. Saffronart has both broadened and simplified access to fine art and jewelry, in addition to setting global pricing benchmarks and transforming the landscape of Modern and Contemporary Indian Art. Its robust online platform and secure technology offers clients a personal, intuitive and effortless auction experience, allowing access to published prices, certificates, multiple images, histories and backgrounds of pieces, designers, and information on traditional techniques.
Saffronart initially launched their novel mobile bidding application for devices such as Blackberrys and Nokias this past September, making it the first fine-art auction house globally to support mobile bidding. The auction attracted bids totaling 717K USD, and, encouraged by the massive response, Saffronart has now introduced an iPhone friendly version. Fully equipped with all the features of website bidding, this new mobile application gives iPhone users unprecedented access to Saffronart’s auctions.
Key features of the application include a color-coded bid status indicator, proxy bidding capabilities, as well as information on current bid amounts, bid histories and post-auction results. Users can also preview the entire auction catalogue, with such lot details as size, surface, medium, estimates and images, searching by lot number, artist or designer name, material or type of jewelry, to easily find items of interest. To bid, collectors need to be pre-registered and approved by Saffronart. Login details and bids are then transmitted securely using industry-standard technologies. In addition, this Apple-approved application allows collectors to view lots in rich graphical detail, including features such as zoom and pan.
Providing collectors on the move with enhanced features that offer speed, convenience and secure access, the launch of the new iPhone application underlines Saffronart’s leadership in leveraging technology to raise the standards of the auction experience.