May 5 2012

The iPad Banking Revolution Is About To Begin

The iPad has been touted as the savior of just about anything: Reading, browsing, creativity, journalism, news, paid content – you name it. These prophecies may turn out to be just a tad exaggerated in the not too distant future. And yet, in the meantime, the revolutionary tablet is increasingly proving to be surprisingly adept at a range of more serious tasks few would have suspected of it. Online banking, for example. While it would initially seem strange to be using a device originally devised with pleasure in mind for managing your basic bank account facilities online, there is a steadily increasing number of very good reasons as to why the iPad banking revolution is just around the corner. And although it may not be the ideal tool for online banking yet, the iPad is quickly getting there at an astounding speed.

iPad banking as a safe alternative to the PC

An important aspect why an iPad works great for managing your bank account online is precisely that it has not been conceptualized for as many different tasks as a standard PC. The flexibility and one-machine-fits-all design of a PC makes it particularly vulnerable to criminal attacks and security has remained one of the major concerns with online banking to this day. In comparison, there are not yet as many viruses or malware applications out there which could siphon your sensible data off to criminal minds somewhere else on the globe when performing the same banking tasks on your iPhone. Of course, this doesn’t free you from the obligation to surf safely, to use secure connections only and to make sure no one else is capable of seeing you perform your banking operations when in public. But it does mean that, right now, the iPad may actually be safer for banking operations than many standard computers.

iPad banking as a convenient alternative to smart phones

The other reason why iPad banking beats regular online banking is convenience. While a PC is mainly a working tool, an iPad frees you from the constraints of your office environment and allows you to conduct a lot of your business on the move, in a cafe or in the fresh air of a local park. The same could be said of its smaller sister device, the iPhone or comparable smart phones. The problem with these has always been screen size, however – a particularly annoying issue when dealing with password protected websites and sensible data. Thanks to its easy to use touchpad keyboard and its high-resolution screen, the iPad combines the functionality of a regular computer with portability and an incredible ease of use. This way, banking, as strange as it may sound, can actually be easy and fun – provided you have enough on your account, of course.

iPad banking as a contemporary alternative to branch services

Various financial institutions have immediately jumped at the opportunity presented by iPad banking and, rather than merely offering their standard applications for the iPad browser, started devising applications designed specifically with tablets in mind. The main motivation for these steps is that the iPad offers a fantastic chance to extend beyond the typical basic bank account online facilities currently on the market. As Intuit, for example, discovered thanks to an extensive study conducted with a staggering 50,000 mobile banking users, “people who use the online and mobile channels are 45% more likely to interact with their financial institution than those who just use online banking”. This is a fantastic opportunity for banks to start communicating with their customers far more directly and personally than through the anonymous process of online banking – a considerable advantage in an age when more and more branches were closing and basic bank account facilities were increasingly being moved online. As a consumer, this means that some of the long-lost advantages of branch-office banking are about to return as part of the iPad banking revolution.

Getting the right online bank account for iPad banking

Of course, all of this is only possible if you actually have an online account suited for iPad banking in the first place – still anything but a given, even in these technology-dominated times. If you, too, are still relying on cumbersome traditional banking services, now is the time to reconsider. There are various advantages to iPad banking, costs and convenience being just two of them. Getting a basic bank account online is easy, too, since you can get a guaranteed account without having to go through the ordeal of credit checks. In many cases, you may end up saving quite a bit of money this way. Just as the iPad, online banking may not be the future of everything – but is certainly presents a significant step forward.

This article was written in association with eccount money, a leading service provider in the field of guaranteed accounts.

William Masters is an English finance journalist living in London. He has written for a wide range of print- and online-publications with a particular focus on issues of finance and technology, bank accounts for bankrupts, credit card debt and banking. When he’s not busy with writing, Will enjoys a good game of chess or taking his Labrador Dennis for a walk.

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By James Kane • Best, News • 1 • Tags: Apple, banking, iPad, ipad banking, ipad banking revolution, revolution