Mobile banking and payments firm Firethorn Holdings has entered into a strategic alliance with Cingular Wireless, the largest wireless carrier in the US, to bring mobile banking and payments services to Cingular Wireless customers.
Firethorn is the only mobile banking and payments provider Cingular has authorized on its network. Through Firethorn, consumers will be able to perform comprehensive banking and payments functions on all supported Cingular handsets.
From a single, secure, Cingular-signed application, consumers will be able to view account balances, transfer funds, receive and pay bills, and quickly clear contents if their mobile device is ever lost or stolen. In addition, because Firethorn is a downloadable application, consumers can perform functions on their handsets even when the device is offline.
It is the right time for the wireless industry to begin moving ahead with mobile banking, said Mark Collins, Cingular’s vice president for long-term products and services planning. Two-thirds of America’s 300 million people now use wireless phones and nearly 60% of wireless customers use their handsets for something other than making calls. It is only natural that we move the ease, convenience and efficiency of electronic banking onto the wireless device.
Firethorn anticipates an initial commercial launch of its mobile banking and payments application, which is currently being trialed, in early 2007.