Friday, March 9, 2012

Bank of America releases Kindle Fire, Android tablet apps

Bank of America has released new apps designed for the Android tablet and Kindle Fire, the latest frontier in the bank's burgeoning mobile banking business.


Many companies have entered the tablet app market by simply pushing its smartphone app to the larger screen. But Bank of America's new apps are specifically tailored for the tablet experience, with more information to take advantage of the larger screen, said Marc Warshawsky, mobile channel executive at Bank of America based in Charlotte. He said the bank is the first to develop an Android tablet app.

"Customers really do value an experience that is tailored to the device they're working on," Warshawsky said. "You can see more on a tablet, and you want things to be set up to take advantage of that."

The new apps piggyback on the success the bank has had with smartphones. Bank of America's Android smartphone app has more than 5 million downloads, and its iPhone app millions more.

All told, the bank has about 9.5 million mobile banking customers. CEO Brian Moynihan told investors Thursday that about 50,000 were signing up each week.

The new apps also follow the launch of an iPad app in April.

The nation's biggest banks are increasingly piling into the mobile banking space, with tablets being the latest development. Citi also announced a Kindle Fire app this week.

Here's a look at the new apps. The Android tablet:
And the Kindle Fire:


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