Android makes m-banking gains

The Apple iPhone, long a staple among consumers who pay bills and transfer funds via mobile devices, is now being challenged for mobile-banking leadership by a surging Android operating system, according to new research, says Digital Transactions.

Handsets that use Google's open-source Android OS now account for 12% of the smartphone market, up from 4% just six months ago, and account for a 17% share of active mobile bankers, according to a report released by Javelin Strategy & Research.

That means Android users are catching up with iPhone devotees, who account for 34% of regular mobile-banking users and 24% of all smartphone owners.

Four out of five US households with Internet access now bank online, according to Fiserv, states American Banker.

Not only has the use of online bill payment and electronic bills grown steadily over the years, it is also changed significantly, said Geoff Knapp, the banking technology vendor's VP for online banking and consumer insights.

Nearly 72.5 million US households with Internet access, or 80% of total households, bank online, up 4% from February 2009, when Fiserv conducted its previous trends survey. Nearly 36.4 million households pay bills online, up 11.7%.

US Bank, the fifth-largest commercial bank in the US, plans to introduce person-to-person mobile payments to customers later this year through a partnership with CashEdge, reports Finextra.

The bank says it will offer CashEdge's Popmoney service to its mobile banking customers through usbank.com and the downloadable mobile banking application, the US Bank Mobile Wallet.

Users will be able to send money directly from their bank account to anyone with an e-mail address, mobile phone number and a bank account.