JupiterResearch released a research report on the 6th April with interesting findings regarding Mobile Banking. This concept report (according to Jupiter website) is five pages long and can be purchased for $750 - that is $150 per page... not bad. I am not sure what have been written in the report and how the analysts that worked on the report came to the conclusion that they did get to, as I was not prepared to buy the report.What I did read, was the media release made by Jupiter (probably to get people to buy the report). This release was featured on many online newspapers (Newsweek, Finextra, Slashphone, to name a few), and highlighted the fact that only 8% of people with cellphones and regular online customers of existing banks would like to get their balance from their cellphones.
It also seems that the analysts came to the groundbreaking conclusion that " banks should not offer mobile services that aim to mirror or duplicate the online experience" and also "Mobile banking can add an anywhere element, but banks should identify where such ubiquity is crucial." In addition, another amazing insight was that younger and 'under-banked' consumers were identified as consumers who might want to use this service.
The conclusion reached by Jupiter: "that consumers have limited interest in mobile banking" seems to me then only holds true for a percentage of customers that already log on to their Internet banking regularly. It seems to me that this conclusion would not be applicable to banks that would want to sell to younger customers or those customers that are 'under-banked'. This conclusion is also not applicable to banks with a need to augment existing services and provide "an anywhere element" to their services.
To summarise, executives in banks without the need to grow their subscriber base or launch new innovative products, without the need to augment existing functionality and provide functionality to younger customers, should rush out and pay $750 for this five page report.