I have been researching the mobile banking environment for the some time now, and have reached a point where many of the articles, papers, and posts have begun to sound very similar. In fact, many even contain the same quotes.
So, I decided to branch out and search for books on the topic. My initial results were disappointing because many of the titles were published years ago, but then I stumbled across "Designing the Mobile User Experience" by Barbara Ballard - Copyright 2007.
Now, I will admit that it's a little pricier than the new tell-all book "written" by the Hollywood starlet of the week. However, it's also a significantly better value than some of the research white papers that sell for 15-20 times as much.
My favorite part of the book is the opening paragraph which reads, "A mobile phone is a Swiss Army knife. It is not a chef's knife or a buck knife. We keep wanting new features on the phone, like texting, voice memos, browsing, a camera, music, and television, because we would like these things in our pocket and the phone is already there. And like a Swiss Army knife, the user experience of each of the features leaves quite a bit to be desired. A Swiss Army knife will not deliver the quality of cut a chef's knife will, nor will it fit in the hand quite as well as a good pocket knife. Designing applications or web sites for mobile phones is in many ways the same as designing the best possible screwdriver or fishing rod for a Swiss army knife."
This is a great analogy and something that we must keep in mind while developing our mobile banking solutions. Please note: this book is focused on the mobile experience in general. It is not focused specifically on the financial industry.
