Need to check your bank balance whilst in Tesco? Need to buy cinema tickets whilst on the bus? Well now you can with MoBank which looks to be the first real contender for universal UK mobile banking.  At the moment the app is only available on the iPhone (and iPod Touch connected by Wi-Fi) for now but they have plans to release app on other platforms soon. All the major UK banks have been covered though although at present you can only register one card at present.

So what can you do with it?

The app allows you to check your bank balance and recent transactions on the move so you don’t have to go to a cash machine or login to your internet banking. MoBank also allow you to use the app as a quick and easy payment device for any of their partner merchants. At the moment this s limited to Interflora, Vue, Thorntons, Waterstone’s, Just the Flight, The Trainline, Game, Deliverance, TicketWeb and Domino’s with the promise of many more coming onboard soon.

Pricing

MoBank have put into place a simple pricing structure; pay as you go (PAYG) and a lifetime unlimited use plan. With PAYG you pay £2.50 for every 5 transactions and £1 per month for one or more balance lookups. Therefore it seems a no-brainer to go with the £15 one off payment for the unlimited plan.

Security

My initial concern was one of security but MoBank do well do allay fears on their website.

• Card details protected by 4 digit PIN
• No payment information or PIN is stored on the phone
• All transactions occur on merchants websites
• If you don’t sign in for three months then MoBank will delete your details
• “bank-grade security and compliant with Payment Card Industry standards and ISO27001 for Information Security Management. A Digicert 256-bit SSL certificate is used to secure all transmitted data.”

It is also reassuring that it is a paid service because it not only gives MoBank more accountability but also allows them to invest in improving and evolving

Is it going to take off?

With the promise of lots more partner merchants and functionality (e.g. topups) the future looks very promising.

I have seen very little publicity for MoBank (apart from the occasional Spotify advert) but this is definitely my top tip to watch over the next few months because with the right marketing it could be huge. However, there may be some downsides. Do I really want to know how little money I have whilst out on the town?

More information on their website

I picked up a message earlier asking if I could forward someone a mobile number I had. Before I had my iPhone I have always had Nokia phones where you can simply send a contact via text as a business card. This can then be easily saved in the recipient’s phone. Sadly Apple don’t like to make things easy. The following procedure had to be taken:

Equipment: iPhone, Pen, Paper, 5 minutes

1.       Go to the main iPhone screen and tap the ‘Contacts’ icon

2.       Search or scroll to the contact whose number you want to send

3.       Take you pen and paper and write down the number

4.       Return to the menu and open the SMS application

5.       Compose message

6.       Search or scroll to contact you want to send number to

7.       Select body and use numeric keypad to copy the number from your piece of paper

8.       Tap send

Hopefully the recipient will have a phone that will let them save a number from the body of the text otherwise they will have to write down.

Saving a number someone has sent to you:

1. Open the text message
2. Tap the number in the message (which should be blue and underlined)
3. You will now be asked if you want to call this person. Tap ‘Call’
4. Quickly hang up the call as you don’t really want to talk to them
5. Go back to menu and go to phone app
6. Select ‘Recents’ and you will see the number you have just called
7. Click the blue arrow to the right of the number
8. You will now get options for that number. Tap to ‘Create new contact’
9. Enter contacts name and save
10. Answer the phone to that person asking why you have just ‘pranked’ them

Thanks Apple you make my life so much easier

Today saw the launch of the Skype iPhone app. I’ve installed the app and so far I’m impressed. A few initial calls to people in the office all worked really well. I have just try to call friends in America but sadly even the iPhone app doesn’t get round the fact they never answer the phone! The only downside is that I will now be subjected to those spam Skypers, who regularly send messages wanting to know me better, wherever I am.

VOIP has always been a very controversial subject as far as the iPhone is concerned. Until now the only way to use Skype was to brick/unlock your iPhone. So this is really a great milestone as Apple finally back down to mainstream VOIP usage.

Sadly the app can only be made whilst connected to WIFI and not on 3G or other data connections. This isn’t because of call quality (as 3 have been allowing Skype enabled handsets on their network since 2007) but O2 protecting their call revenues, again.

Skype’s next platform will be the Blackberry in May.