Westpac today unveiled its Westpac Mobile Banking app for iPad users, and the new app looks to bring in a lot of extra utility for those who do their banking on the go, or would like to but find concerns about security getting in the way.

Westpac Mobile Banking was built on the strength of, according to Westpac officials, "enormous amounts" of customer input and feedback, and got its launch back on July 10, but Westpac waited until today to make its formal debut at a press conference in Sydney. The app itself focuses mainly on the standards of consumer banking: the ability to check several accounts at once or just one, transferring funds from one account to another and using online bill paying services. Further, the app uses visual representations of accounts, including the ability to instantly see the balance upon logging in. Users can in turn drag and drop accounts to perform money transfers and can receive email receipts of any transactions performed.

There are some missing functions here, however, as users will not be able to add new payees and billers through the app itself, a strange lapse that Westpac assures anyone within earshot will be available with the next version. Further, there is as yet no version of Westpac Mobile Banking available for any Android (News - Alert) device, an oversight explained away by the common explanation that Android development is much more difficult than development for iOS, as iOS only has a comparative handful of devices to work with, while Android has all sorts of devices involved in its purview, with different size screens, different screen resolutions, different hardware specs and so on. Still, according to Westpac's Harry Wendt, general manager for online and mobile, there will indeed be an Android app, but just when is as yet unclear.

While undoubtedly iPhone (News - Alert) and iPad users will be very happy to see this, as it joins several other banks' applications on the market and provides some extra convenience for them, Android users may not be so happy. Their happiness is likely to follow, however, and most users will likely welcome the ability to not only manage their accounts after business hours, but also do so with the security of email receipts. The combination of security and convenience is a vital one in online banking, and as such, any app--like the Westpac Mobile Banking app--that can provide both should be quite welcome for users.

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