The Cool Factor

A few weeks ago, I’ll admit that I fell for the marketing. I’ve admired the iPhone since its release, but more as a piece of art than a piece of technology. All of a sudden, the commercials seemed so much more convincing. I can cut, copy, and paste? Sure, I do that everyday in Word, but for some reason it looks so much more … extraordinary … when a model’s hand flicks away effortlessly, copying a phone number from a web site and pasting it into the calling box. And then there are the apps. Who hasn’t been impressed at the ingenuity showed in some of the offerings?

Insurers are getting in on the game, with yet another major player — Farmers Insurance — launching a free iPhone app last month that helps an insured submit a claim. Other insurers, such as State Farm and Nationwide, have been touting their apps for several months now. These tools encourage and educate users on how to submit a claim by using a walkthrough approach to the task, even prompting insureds to take photos of damage with the iPhone’s camera, which are then attached to the claim when it is submitted.