Yes I don’t apologise for another piece on this topic. I truly think mobile banking is a natural to be one of the main uses of mobiles – most people have an account to manage, and for most people it’s not an exciting activity and just something to tick off the “to do” list, so…why not do your banking on the way to work? The reason for today’s blog is that I’m noticing more and more activity by banks introducing mobile banking services and applications, and by vendors.
Here are just two recent examples: in Pittsburgh, Huntington Bancshares Inc. has rolled out a text banking platform, and Fifth Third Bancorp plans to launch a mobile banking service across 12 states. Meanwhile ClairMail and its customers are seeing increasing activity.
My point today however is that I’ve also noticed a change in the way mobile banking is being covered in the UK at least: it’s going more and more mainstream.
The UK’s popular Daily Mail this week had a piece entitled “Use your mobile to bank from bed”. Carphone Warehouse has entered the market via a deal with Monitise to “put a bank in your pocket”: a major high street retailer seeing the potential is a very positive sign. The UK’s price comparison site Moneysupermarket.com has also spoken about how the recession is making people more anxious to check their accounts when they are out and about.
See what I mean about mainstream – are other people seeing the same trends in other countries?
Tags: banking, Carphone Warehouse, ClairMail, Daily Mail, Fifth Third Bancorp, Huntington Bancshares, mcommerce, mobile, Mobile Commerce, Moneysupermarket, Monitise, Pittsburgh, sms, text messaging, UK, USA
