KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Look for credit unions to explode onto the iPhone scene in the next few months with iPhone applications by and for credit unions — including a locator app developed by an independent programmer here at the behest of Credit Union Journal.
The Challenge
Credit Union Journal noticed the lack of CU presence on the world's fastest-selling smartphone, the Apple iPhone: the iPhone store boasts about 700 financial applications-yet only one is CU-centric.
Consequently, we challenged CUs, CU organizations and CU vendors over the past month to build a credit-union presence at the Apple iPhone App Store, which features an array of downloadable applications, from banking to weather reports to games.
1st CU With An iPhone App
Texas Dow Employees CU of Lake Jackson, Texas, beat everyone to the punch, telling Credit Union Journal in an exclusive announcement that it was
1st iPhone App Serving Any CU Member
Perhaps the strongest show of support for CUs-on-iPhones comes from Brandon Ballentine, an iPhone developer and instructional technologist out of Knoxville, Tenn., who has also served as a credit union IT manager.
In response to Credit Union Journal's call, Ballentine has developed a native iPhone application that functions as a shared-branching locator. The free application is designed to allow a member at any CU to use an iPhone to find the five closest shared-branching locations, via GPS technology, Ballentine explained.
"I've been interested in creating an application for the iPhone since Apple released the software development kit," said Ballentine. "I think the popularity of location-based services and other mobile technologies is going to continue to grow over the next couple of years, and credit unions really need to think of ways to utilize some of these tools."
The locator application will be submitted to Apple for approval early next month. Meanwhile, Ballentine is hosting a project forum for questions and discussion at
1st Mobile Banking iPhone App For CUs
PSCU Financial Services is also stepping forward, with a unique tack, announcing the release of a mobile banking iPhone application, developed in partnership with mFoundry, a mobile banking provider. "We anticipate launching the application with a credit union very soon. Once launched, it will be available via the iTunes App Store next to the likes of Citi and BofA," said Doug Lokrantz, mobile commerce manager at the nation's largest CUSO, based in St. Petersburg, Fla.
"mFoundry developed the mobile banking iPhone application for both Citi and BofA," explained Lokrantz. "This is the same application we are offering to credit unions that allows them to have their own branded mBanking iPhone application." The application allows members to pay bills, transfer funds, view accounts and find locations within a custom iPhone user interface.
Alliant CU of Chicago will offer the branded PSCU iPhone app, according to Rudy Pereira, SVP-operations and technology at the $6-billion CU. That could also make Alliant the first CU to offer a mobile banking iPhone application. PSCU would not confirm that Alliant would be the first CU to offer the PSCU application.
1st Money Management iPhone App For CUs
Wesabe, the Web-based financial planning software out of San Francisco, is in "late-stage negotiations with a good-sized credit union" to release its iPhone financial planner application under the credit union's brand, according to a company spokesperson.
The San Francisco-based company can customize a credit union's iPhone app to include mobile banking and locator functions, as well, it said. Credit Union Journal has also learned that Jwaala, Amplify CU's CUSO based in Mansfield, Texas, is working on a CU iPhone application. Jwaala currently offers MoneyTracker, an online money management tool that resides within CU Internet banking applications. The Jwaala iPhone application would offer the full range of services, including mobile banking, financial planning, and locator functions.
