Does Online Banking Need its Own iPad App?
Nice little survey about a new iPhone App.
First Apple came out with the iPhone and it changed the landscape for mobile devices. People began to see the power of TIME (technology, information, media, and entertainment) converging in a device that could fit in their pocket.
Developers latched onto the popularity and now there is pretty much an application that will do anything from calculating nutritional values at fast food restaurants, to applications that utilize GPS to provide walking directions to the closest ATM. Early on, most (myself included) felt that downloadable applications for financial institutions were akin to developing software for PC banking of the 90s. I, for one, felt that the premise of having consumers go to a site to download a specific application would be foolish when we have become so accustomed to having the browser be our gateway.
I may, however, have been premature to think that was the case. Apple certainly changed the rules and the habits of consumers and today it is a reasonable strategy to develop online banking applications that run on the iPhone, Android, and Blackberry platforms. Now, along comes the iPad which will require its own development efforts. Should banks develop specific iPad applications?
The short answer is yes; it is inexpensive, it gives the financial institution publicity, and perhaps will draw in some new business. The difficulty, however, lies in the fact that the mere form factor of the iPad does not really make it a mobile device and perhaps downloading a banking application on it will not be necessary.
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