Finovate 2007

Late yesterday Mobile Banking & Money announced that they will host their first conference dedicated to the mobile banking channel on October 2nd - Finovate 2007.

The location - New York City

But this is not your ordinary conference. According to MM&B, "Following the popular format pioneered by DEMO, FINOVATE 2007 will provide companies with a mere seven minutes to “wow!” an audience of 200 leading executives, investors, analysts, members of the press and bloggers with actual demonstrations of their latest & greatest products and services (no powerpoint allowed!)."

NO POWERPOINT!! All Hail Finovate 2007!

Learn about Mobilearth and Eisenhower Bank

In June I participated in a webinar conducted by Foreword Financial entitled "Mobile Financial Services: Catch the Wave." During the presentation I remember Tom Llewellyn, EVP/CIO of Broadway Bank speak very highly of a mobile banking vendor that I was not familiar with – Mobilearth.

Then, yesterday I had the pleasure speaking with Graeme Cox and Tia Lee (Mobilearth) via a WebEx presentation, and learned a little more about their company and mobile offering. Mobilearth, based in Vancouver, Canada, was established in 2004 and is primarily focused on the browser-based mobile banking solution. Mobilearth became much more visible last year when Eisenhower Bank (a division of Broadway Bank based in San Antonio Texas) announced that they would be deploying the Mobilearth solution to their clientele which is predominately comprised of military personnel.

Aloha - Bank of Hawaii

Let me take just a moment to apologize to Bank of Hawaii and mShift for a post that I wrote on 8/13. I stated that Bank of Hawaii had launched their mobile solution (which is true) but also wrote that, "the bad news is that it doesn't seem to be working." As it turns out I was wrong. The problem was "user error" because I was not entering the url correctly. The ironic part is that I remember verifing the url at least half a dozen times, but being a creature of habit, I was typing (http://www.mobile.boh.com/ - which returns a503 error code) instead of the actual url of (http://mobile.boh.com/).

That said, I will hold to my comment that, "the mobile solution, much like online banking, is a very fickle platform." For years I've known that the "www" is not necessary, but out of shear habit I continue to enter it each and every time I surf the net.

The good news is that the Bank of Hawaii site is live and looks great. Plus, as Al Landon (Chairman and CEO) states, "Bank of Hawaii was the first to offer online banking in Hawaii. Now we're pleased to be the first in the state to introduce mobile banking for our customers."

New Offering - Bank of America and Verizon

Late yesterday afternoon Bank of America and Verizon announced that customers will now be able to access their accounts much more quickly utilizing Verizon's Web 2.0 service. For access to the service Verizon will charge $5.00/month + airtime, or you can sign up for the V CAST VPak at a cost of $15/month and incur no additional airtime charges. Click here to read the most comprehensive article that I have found so far.

New Entrants to the Mobile Foray

If you thought it was difficult to select a mobile banking vendor before, hold on, because the options are growing exponentially. Case in point, just this week two formidable companies announced the release of their mobile banking solution for the U.S. Specifically, I am referring to:

The Yodlee product integrates multiple channels by utilizing both browser and SMS technology. This is a trend that we will most likely see repeated, because as Peter Hazlehurst (Yodlee - SVP of Product Development) states, “It’s clear that mobile banking strategies need to incorporate at least two key elements: 1) ubiquity of access via multiple channels and 2) relevant, personal content that delivers what consumers really need when they’re on the go.”

Sybase has also announced that their mobile banking solution will be available to financial institutions in the U.S. This development comes shortly after they commissioned a survey, which was administered by Loudhouse Research, in which they found that, “66 percent of mobile subscribers in the Americas are interested in services that allow them to check bank account balances via their mobile device.”

UnWired Nation - The Voice of Mobile

The other day I read an article by Nancy Gohring on pcworld.com that discussed, UnWired Nation, a new entrant in to the mobile arena. The CEO Indraj Grill says, "he's found a way to get around the challenges involved in offering a data service to mobile phone customers: use voice instead."

I know it's early, but we had better keep an eye on the voice solution. We might be looking at yet another channel to integrate. (SMS, WAP, Rich UX, Voice??)

The WAP Solution

Due to the Wells Fargo product launch, there have recently been a tremendous number of articles written about the WAP solution. Most of us know the standard pro’s and con’s:

Pro’s –
* Relatively inexpensive
* Quick to implement
* Perception of technologically advanced
(i.e. for having a live mobile offering)

Con’s –
Dependent upon phone browser
Difficulty in consistent rendering to thousands of different handsets

However, there is potentially another negative aspect that is not as well known – carrier fees. In the June 2007 issue of US Banker John Engen discusses the WAP solution with a number of subject matter experts including Bob Egan (chief analyst at Tower Group) and Dan Schatt (analyst at Celent.) In the article, which I highly recommend reading, Engen writes, “even so, Egan says he knows of at least one situation where a carrier is threatening to block access to a bank’s mobile site, because of no financial agreement. ‘At the end of the day, the carrier can control and block domain addresses,’ Schatt says. ‘They might not want to exercise that power, but that’s the reality.’”

Now, obviously a carrier blocking a bank’s domain would be aggressive, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Also, isn’t this similar to the topic of net neutrality? (learn more: savetheinternet.com) I’d love to hear what others think about this topic.