While most bank mobile apps are focused initially on iPhones, then move to Blackberry and Android in subsequent rollouts, it would appear that Android and iPhone are the way to go as BlackBerry falls behind its two rivals in sales.
More than 13.5 million iPhones were sold in the third quarter, or about 3.2% of the global market. Nokia still rules the roost, with a 28.2% share.
The ramifications of this innovate-or-die culture for smartphones are apparent in the banking industry. Bank of America and Citigroup, for example, are planning to allow staff to use iPhone and Android instead of BlackBerry for e-mail, a move that JPMorgan Chase and Standard Chartered have already made.
Robert Cozza, a principal research analyst at Gartner, said smartphone providers have entered a period of accelerated platform evolution, stimulated by more regular releases and new device types, and any platform that fails to innovate quickly will loose ground.