What worries me is that firms are getting the wrong end of the stick here; that the app tail is wagging the internet dog. My delight at the prospect of an online banking app isn’t because I want yet another icon on my phone’s home screen; it’s that the browser-based service is so awful, such an insult to the eyes, that pretty much anything short of being poked with a sharp object would deliver a more enjoyable experience. The app is better than the normal online service, in much the same way that being stabbed is marginally better than being shot.
Some services work better as apps, but banking isn’t one of them. There’s nothing my bank’s iPhone app does that couldn’t be done in a browser – and the app only offers a subset of features, so if I want to do more than check balances or transfer between personal accounts then I need to go to the normal website anyway. The money spent developing a pretty but limited iPhone app only benefits the iPhone-toting few, but money spent on the website UI would have benefited everyone.
"