BoA banks on an iPhone-specific site
It’s always a pleasant surprise when a company does something helpful. This past week, while I was attending the gargantuan Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I suddenly realized that my cash reserves had dwindled to one lonely dollar bill and a handful of change. Hoping to avoid the ridiculous transfer fees that ATMs love to charge, I pulled out my iPhone, thinking maybe I’d be able to find a nearby machine for Bank of America. Navigating a site built for mouse and keyboard over an EDGE connection is hardly an ideal situation, but I hoped that I’d be able to muddle along enough to get the information I was looking for.
Entering the URL, I was amazed to discover that not only had someone at Bank of America heard of the iPhone, they’d actually developed an iPhone-specific version of their site. There were nice big buttons that were easy to hit with your finger, and—even better—it gave priority to the kind of information you might want when you’re on your iPhone: like, oh, finding locations. I was able to easily input a ZIP code using a nice big numeric keypad instead of the keyboard and get a list of the nearest BoA ATMs.
Unfortunately, even the nearest was too far from my location to make it in the limited time available, so I sucked it up and paid the extra money. Still, it was a nice thought from Bank of America, and one that I hope more companies will adopt.
Category: Musings
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Comments (12)
Oh yes. BofA's site for the iPhone is lovely. I can pay bills from my iPhone like cutting butter.
Posted by Dan | January 11, 2008 8:05 PM
This isn't new, and I don't even think its iPhone specific. This is part of BofA's mobile banking site. Been around for a long time. I have been using it at least since I got my iPhone.
Sorry to ruin your fun.
Posted by Ryan | January 11, 2008 8:25 PM
@Ryan: I'm guessing it is iPhone specific, given the way the interface works. The sliding transitions and use of numeric keypad for entry are good indications.
And my fun's hardly ruined. It may not be new, but it's new to me, and I'm guessing others might not have seen it either.
Posted by Dan Moren![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://iphone.macworld.com/nav-commenters.gif)
|
January 11, 2008 8:29 PM
I think just the front page is iPhone specific. The rest of the pages are the same as they have had for all other cell phones.
Nah, I just thought for a moment there was something even newer from BofA to get excited about. No biggie. I am sure there are tons of people that had no clue about this.
Posted by Ryan | January 11, 2008 8:35 PM
I'm always surprised at how many people run down iPhone optimized sites and seem to say they *only* want to see 'full' sites on their iPhone. Did a mini-rant on this the other day - not sure if shameless plugs are allowed here, but just in case, mini-rant is at:
http://tinyurl.com/2rp9r9
Posted by patrickj | January 11, 2008 8:39 PM
The iPhone interface to BOA Mobile seems like a fairly new addition. I only started seeing it just last week and love it. My only qualm is still having to go through the less iPhone-friendly part of the mobile site for checking my balance & paying bills. Still, that is a lot better than having to use the full site on EDGE.
Posted by Nick | January 11, 2008 10:40 PM
I'm gonna have to agree with Dan on this one. I mean the URL does end in /iPhone. I've been using it for quite a while now, I read a small tidbit about it in a past issue of MacLife
Posted by Daniel G | January 12, 2008 4:18 PM
Fox news is iPhone specific. Down to the quicktime videos. The early videos were awsome clear. Still clear. Fast menus and large buttons.
Posted by ralpha1961 | January 12, 2008 5:57 PM
The onine banking looks the same as before. The bankofamerica.com site opening screen is what has changed most drastically. I think they are toying with it and maybe better things will come. No fun ruined.
Posted by MarcosD | January 13, 2008 7:59 AM
All very nice, but it doesn't work for customers in the frontier state of Washington.
Posted by Sam S | January 14, 2008 10:00 AM
Bank of America was actually one of the first sites listed on Apple's webapp website back in October. But, as far as I've seen, only the ATM/Bank locator is iPhone specific. As mentioned above, the balance check, bill pay, etc is still formatted for lesser mobile phones.
Posted by Gonzalo PG | January 14, 2008 7:19 PM
actually, they are iPhone specific. Most of the screens look the same as mobile banking on other phones, but the sizing/layout of the page was changed in October so that it fit better on the iPhone's larger screen. Hence the iPhone URL.
As a regular user of the site, I found it to be a small change that made a big difference in how easily I could read the text on the site, as well as reduced the amount of scrolling required.
Its always the little things!
Posted by Li | January 15, 2008 5:07 PM