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Westpac whose web site has a chequered history and is often down was further embarrassed yesterday when they were unable to get their brand new banking app to work on the Telstra 3G network at a media launch event in Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art.
Many minutes passed as execs at the event vainly tried to get the system running on iPads that had been freely distributed to journalists about the room.
Alas, all failed and Westpac consumer online GM Harry Wendt was eventually forced to resort to a pre-recorded “emergency app” to demonstrate the new system. While he and other execs initially claimed there had been a Telstra 3G outage, journos within the room had no trouble keeping online, and the problem was later blamed on a “systems glitch”.
The iPad app differs from Westpac’s standard Internet banking and mobile banking apps by doing away with a dropdown menu system in favour of icons representing each of a user’s accounts. To transfer money from one account to another, or to make a payment, users must drag one icon on top of another, which execs portrayed as more intuitive than traditional online banking – though not everyone would agree.
So far there’s no Android version of the app: answering questions on this, Wendt said Android is more problematic than iOS, given a profusion of devices and screen sizes, but the bank is working on it and an Android app “will be coming”.
Jason Yetton, group executive for retail and business banking, noted 2.75 million Australians now own a tablet, and this is expected to rise to half the population by 2016. Some 70 percent of adults use their tablet between 6pm and 10pm while also watching TV, he said – including doing their online banking. – David Frith
