The mobile bandwagon has set off at high speed, drawing enormous attention and signaling what is likely to become a significant market for a variety of business whose operations can be aided by operations on the go. Of particular significance is online banking, one of the most frequently used faculties of the internet, as the combination of ubiquity of bank accounts and universal laziness (or business) on the part of its clientele has made internet banking quite a significant player of the online world.
Mobile banking, as has been supported by banks such as NAB with iPhone and other mobile apps, is likely to replace a fairly significant amount of traffic for users in the near future, as smartphone ownership is set to continue its meteoric rise, and likely to (eventually) replace nearly all existing mobile phones with those of the smarter variety. As such, mobile apps have been receiving quite a bit of attention in recent years, both enriching their creators and entertaining the users with innumerable gaming options of all types.
App-based mobile banking has the potential to siphon off a significant amount of regular internet banking, as the apps always operate slightly faster than a smartphone’s browser will allow, both for reasons of skipping the URL typing, as well as mobile apps being designed to accommodate far less graphically-intensive information. As simple as an online banking website might be, a mobile app need only send simple numbers back and forth to the user’s phone, rather than the graphical logo and all sorts of links all over the page. And if anyone knows human nature, they know laziness always wins.
It is likely that smartphones will continue becoming increasingly popular, which will likely shift some of the internet banking traffic over to mobile phones. Although very few customers are likely to switch banks as a result of one bank having a mobile app and another not, it is altogether possible that a series of inconvenient nuisances can easily build up to ruin the day of a frustrated customer, and any aspect of bank service which annoys the clientele should be improved. Thus mobile apps are one section in which a bank can improve its customer experience, and the mobile NAB internet banking app goes to show that, whether NAB had the sense of long-term strategy or simply jumped on board with a trend, that they will capitalize on the inevitably developing market regardless.
One wonders whether the browser will be forgotten altogether; most of the significant uses of online traffic have been modified into an app, generally speedier, more easily visible and navigable than a full-size webpage, which ironically has circumvented what was once one of the most significant selling points of an iPhone or other smartphone, its ability to browse the internet. Regardless, the shift was inevitable, and as long as apps are faster and more convenient than a full-blown site, they’ll be more favorable to the users, who will flock to them endlessly. Apps are here to stay, at least for the very significant time being, and other banks would be well advised to follow the lead of NAB and other banks in developing services for this emerging market.
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