A Mobile Financial Cooperative Opportunity?
I just read an interesting article in the December BTN magazine (Hold the Phones: Mobile Commerce is here) that I believe could represent an important collective credit union opportunity. The article takes the position that mobile banking (cell phone, PDA, etc) is finally about to take off as devices are increasingly capable and consumers more comfortable with mobile commerce. Probably not a very bold statement to say that it is only a matter of time before the adoption in this area really takes off...even *potentially* surpassing Home Banking access.
Still, from my perspective, progress on the solution side in rolling-out truly rich mobile banking products, as well as low adoption demand among individual credit unions, has been very slow. This could be a wait-and-see approach given prior expensive experiments in 'mobile banking' in the dot-com glory days. However, Firethorn (a vendor I'm not currently familiar with) is referenced in the article as being a leading downloadable mobile application solution that has captured recent attention from some banks. What is also interesting is that Firethorn has partnered with Cingular Wireless and Checkfree to enable financial institutions to leverage the nation's largest mobile network and bill pay platform for enhanced transactions.
So what is the "Credit Union Opportunity"?
I contiune to be very enthusiastic with the opportunities available through...
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