First Direct banks on Apple

First Direct is now offering its online banking services through Apple's Safari web browser, as well as on the recently launched iPhone and iPod Touch.

The service became fully compatible with Safari last week, while it's been available on the iPhone and iPod Touch since their respective UK launches.

Just under 80 per cent of First Direct's customers bank online and 87 per cent of all transactions are carried out online. Around 10 per cent of the customer base use Macs - a higher proportion than other banks, according to First Direct.

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Jenny Southwell, head of e-marketing at First Direct told silicon.com: "We have a base of early adopters that are very quick to adopt new technology. So we're constantly looking at new technologies and ways that we can serve our customers online."

She said: "We know that the mobile channel is going to be very important for us in the future so it was all about positioning ourselves in the mobile space. And we wanted to try and be the first bank to launch a fully compatible banking service with the iPhone as well."

First Direct was the first bank to launch text alerts in 1999 and launched a podcast in 2006.

First Direct's tech team worked closely with Apple on the six-week iPhone project in order to get hold of the devices for testing in advance of its official launch on 9 November last year.

When developing the application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, the service was tweaked with the help of Apple's development guidelines. This included the log-on process, which was streamlined for the iPhone.

Security was also a major area the team focused on. Southwell said: "We spoke to our security people at HSBC, checked they were comfortable with it, and tested it all to make sure it was completely secure."

She added: "The key benefit for First Direct is that we're positioning ourselves as a sort of bank in your pocket. We wanted to provide that full bank in your pocket experience for customers."

The bank is also currently testing its mobile banking application on the Nokia N95 smartphone.