The Future of Mobile Finance
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One of the most universally dreaded errands throughout American history has been going to the bank. Synonymous with long lines, incompetent employees and bureaucratic nightmares, banking in person is rarely described as anything other than a necessary evil. Of course, face to face banking has become less frequent during the last decade, due to the rise of online banking. The ability to pay bills, examine account balances and transfer funds with the click of a mouse has been nothing short of a godsend for most consumers. In fact, InternetFinancialNews.com stated in February 2009 that online banking has grown even more popular during the current recession, with “…28 percent of consumers saying they are using online banking more then they did a year ago” and another “…63 percent said managing all of their accounts online from one site would help them feel more in control of their finances.” However, even the relatively recent innovations of online banking are quickly being surpassed by the next big thing — mobile banking. While it’s barely been a decade since online banking gained mainstream appeal, it is now possible to do just about everything a bank website offers from a mobile phone. A group of friends searching for an ATM, for instance, need only use MasterCard’s ATM Hunter for the iPhone. Bank of America users can manage every facet of their accounts from their iPhone, Blackberry or Android. And of course, Mint offers an iPhone app for remotely tracking every bank, retirement and investment account you happen to have. But cool and exciting as these innovations are, they are actually just the beginning!
Below, we’ll comment on the future of mobile finance by profiling some of the most significant, new developments, some of which are already assisting consumers in all manner of remote transactions.
Mobile UPC Scanning
(Mu0x)
Perhaps the most intriguing development in mobile finance is how it extends far beyond simply bringing online banking to mobile phones. Indeed, the technology often extends beyond banking completely. One exciting example is mobile bar code scanning. While much remains to be done before mobile phones can scan and inventory bar codes as reliably as dedicated scanning equipment, early scanning programs already exist for the iPhone. One such program is RedLaser 2.0, which enables users to scan bar codes from a grocery store in real time. This has enabled consumers to comparison shop while standing in a store aisle by running scanned bar codes against a database ...
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Categories: Uncategorized Tags: Account Balances, Android, Atm, Bank Of America, Blackberry, Errands, Iphone, Last Decade, Mint, Mobile Banking, Necessary Evil, New Developments, Recession