MasterCard Worldwide for years has offered ATM Hunter only on its Web site, but interest in the ATM-finder service skyrocketed when the card brand made it available for smartphones, says Cheryl Guerin, MasterCard senior vice president, U.S. and digital marketing.
“I can’t release any specific numbers, but there has been a significant pick up in downloading the application and application use,” Guerin tells PaymentsSource.
MasterCard on Monday released ATM Hunter for Blackberry smartphones, nearly a year after releasing it for the Apple iPhone. MasterCard offers ATM Hunter as a customer service, hoping the app cements cardholder loyalty and satisfied cardholders will tell others who may want to become MasterCard customers.
“That is optimistic at best,” says Nick Holland, senior analyst at Aite Group LLC, a Boston-based consulting firm. “I am sure [MasterCard] will get branding applications out of this, but it’s basically a mediocre application. There are good things about it, but the Apple store gives it two and half stars out of five.”
ATM Hunter users have posted mixed reviews about the service on Apple store’s Web site.
One reviewer, identified only as Scott-USA, said the iPhone app “is just OK for use in the U.S. and Canada, but for finding ATMs in other countries this app seems to be outdated and almost useless.” Scott, who said he is a frequent Bangkok, Thailand, visitor, said he used ATM Hunter to locate machines near JW Marriott, Sheraton Grande and Four Seasons hotels. “The app came back with no ATMs found,” Scott writes.
Another reviewer, identified only as Jack P2, praised ATM Hunter. “A friend told me about this app. It helped me out on my way to Toronto a couple of times. It’s got an easy to use interface. I like the map feature,” he wrote.
Reviews on Blackberry’s app store site praise MasterCard Hunter’s competitor.
Allpoint, Cardtronics Inc.’s surcharge-free ATM network, offers the Allpoint Global Surcharge-Free ATM Network on Blackberry’s app store with MasterCard’s ATM Hunter. Reviewers gave Allpoint ATM finder service four stars out of five. Reviewers gave MasterCard’s ATM Hunter one and half stars out of five.
ATM Hunter reviews appearing on Blackberry’s app store generally were negative. Some reviews complained ATM Hunter did not work in Ireland, Austria and the United Kingdom.
One reviewer, however, countered that it does work on his Blackberry 9700 in the UK, but it is not fool proof. “It hasn’t shown any Tesco [supermarket] ATMs, but it could be a lifesaver if you’re in a new area or on holiday,” the reviewer wrote.
Guerin declined to say how many ATMs are in the ATM Hunters database.
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