Mobile Banking Updates - Sept 13

New Hurdle For Mobile Commerce: Success?
"With all of the various reasons to explain why mobile commerce has gone almost nowhere with major American retailers thus far, AT&T and Apple-especially AT&T-are illustrating yet another. The M-Commerce movement may prove to be the latest corporate example of "Be Careful What You Wish For."

Consumer media have been filled with reports this month of major problems with iPhone 3G performance, illustrated by dropped calls, extremely slow connections and a generally unpleasant experience, especially in places where-ironically-the iPhone is most popular, such as New York City."

The ROI of Small-Business Mobile
"A new report from Aite Group, LLC analyzes the types of mobile banking transactions small businesses are most willing to adopt, and how that willingness varies by business size. Based primarily on the results of a July 2009 survey of 283 U.S. small businesses (defined as any business generating less than US$10 million in annual revenues), the report also points out challenges, such as misperceptions about mobile security, that banks will have to overcome to ensure a successful deployment. Finally, the report examines small-business willingness to pay for mobile banking/transaction service, expected adoption rates and estimated deployment costs and potential revenues for banks seeking to calculate return on investment (ROI)."

Mobile Receipt from Mitek Systems Climbs to #1 in the App Store
"Mitek Systems, Inc. today announced its Mobile Receipt (TM) application climbed all the way to the number one paid finance application in the App Store (SM) on September 8, 2009 and is consistently in the top five application in its category. Mobile Receipt converts the photo of a receipt taken with the iPhone camera into a high quality image and, with a single tap, converts the data into a professional looking expense report. Mobile Receipt saves time, enhances productivity and can help speed reimbursements."

Barclays revamps mobile banking site
"The first area of improvement is to the online banking log-in pages which have been optimised for access and viewing on mobile devices. In addition, a new 'quick access' log-in has been added for customers who purely want to view their balance, statement or to make a transfer. Research undertaken by Barclays has shown that complex logging in processes put many customers off using a mobile phone for online banking."

Creating New Revenue Streams With the Mobile Channel
"Since the late 1990’s analysts have asked how and when mobility will impact the established financial landscape. The Silicon Valley boom at the end of the 20th century boosted online commerce, while making household names out of organizations that still thrive today. People are less likely to know, however, that one of these brands, PayPal, started out as a Palm-based mobile payment solution. PayPal quickly moved beyond mobile and ultimately found its niche to help change the way consumers purchase goods online. More importantly, they spurred a stream of consciousness from Denmark to Israel and back to Silicon Valley where the dream originally hatched. Today, eBay-owned PayPal is the No. 1 online “alternative” payment method and enjoys hundreds of millions of customers worldwide. "

For m-Commerce to Work, We Need to Embrace Mobile Payments (Part 2)
"Interestingly enough, the "comfort factor" in using a mobile to make a purchase is more of a problem here in the developed world. In developing markets, however, where critical infrastructure like bank branches and high-speed internet is often lacking, people use mobile phones for all sorts of things including mobile banking, mobile money transfer, mobile education, and mobile medicine."