o iPads have become major online presence nearly from the momentof their launch.

o Credit unions and their technology providers note that currentonline banking software works on the devices.

? Some institutions and companies are working on bankingapplications specific to the iPad.

o Competitors to the iPad are expected on the market soon andstandards may follow.

The sheer speed with which the iPad has become a household namehas been remarkable, analysts and industry observers said, and thatsuccess has some credit union marketers and technologists wonderingif they should jump aboard.

Apple sold 3.27 million of the devices between its April 3launch and the end of its fiscal quarter on June 26, “becoming amajor consumer electronics product category-unto itself-within onesingle quarter,” said Forrester Research's Sarah Rotman Epps.

Meanwhile, a June survey of 3,990 online U.S. consumers in Juneshowed only 5% had never heard of the iPad, compared with 25% inthe same survey who said they hadn't heard of the Amazon Kindle,three years after its introduction.

Leading the charge are folks interested in gadgets in general,Epps pointed out, adding, “the success of the Apple iPad hascreated a halo around tablets in general.” She pointed out thatmajor names such as HP, Dell, Toshiba, Android and Lenovo aremaking plans to enter the market soon with their own entries.

And who's using them? “U.S. online consumers who own or intendto buy iPads and other tablets fit a typical early-adopter profile,and their characteristics have implications for productstrategists. They own multiple PCs and connected devices; they'revoracious media consumers; and they have an affinity for otherApple products but aren't exclusively 'Apple-ites,”' Epps said inher new report on iPads.

They're also online bankers who are on the leading edge of a newconvergence of financial services and consumer demand, and it'stime to at least start thinking if not acting on that fact,according to several credit union industry participants.

“iPad banking opens a new door for credit unions to begincontemplating-that of touch banking,” said Tripp Johnson of CCGCatalyst in Phoenix, Ariz. “The iPad and tablet PCs in general willforce credit union developers to rethink application design due tothe very nature of the table being controlled by touch.Consequently, the opportunity exists to create a truly unique userexperience.”

That said, Johnson recommends a wait-and-see approach. “TabletPC adoption is a couple of years off and for the immediate future Iwould recommend that CUs simply optimize their current onlinebanking platforms to be tablet compatible versus developing a newplatform solely for the iPad or any other tablet PC,” he said.

“Having to support multiple online banking platforms can becostly and strong adoption for the iPad or table PCs for onlinebanking has yet to be determined,” Johnson said.

That seems to be the current strategy at San Diego-basedSymitar, where marketing manager John San Filippo said, “While wehave in fact developed an iPhone application for our goDough mobilebanking platform, we don't have any current plans to developsomething specifically for tablet computers like the iPad.”

“Due to the greater screen real estate these systems afford,most users would likely use the normal browser interface to ourNetTeller home banking system. That approach works well.”

That line of thinking resonates with what Stu Fisher, seniorvice president of e-commerce at notably tech-savvy Addison AvenueFCU in Palo Alto, Calif., has in mind. The $2.4 billion institutionis working some iPad enhancements into the next iteration of itsiPhone app which Fisher said already works on the new tabletdevice.

“To me, it's kind of like a third car. I like the iPad but seeit as kind of a niche product for now. I'm not giving up myBlackBerry or laptop for it,” he said. “But don't get me wrong.It's a great little device, beautiful and easy to use, and we'llall be watching the other tablets that are coming along now tocompete with it. HP has one coming out soon and, keep in mind howquickly Google's Android platform began outselling iPhones.”

Pixilation problems have been mentioned as an issue using theiPhone app on the larger iPad screen and industry observers alsoexpect tech standards of yet-to-be determined nature to emerge asother tablets establish their niche.

One leading technologist, taking much the same tack as theForrester analyst who noted that iPad owners own lots of otherdevices, too, observed that serving all channels may be the besttactic moving forward.

“Our consumers tells us all the time that their consumers wantto access their financial lives at all time from whatever devicethey have. The iPad is the newest and most powerful one, perhaps,but it is certainly not the only one, and I'd have a hard timebetting on any single channel,” said Geoff Knapp, vice president ofonline banking and consumer insights at Fiserv Inc. in Brookfield,Wis.

“Does the richness of the applications, the things you can dotouching the screen, differentiate the iPad enough for the consumerto put down his iPhone or Droid and instead carry the iPad as hisprimary connectivity device? I'm not sure yet,” Knapp said.

“I am pretty confident, however, that the online bankingexperience will continue to be optimized and that we all will tocontinue to think holistically about this, and not just go create abunch of different apps just to have them,” he said.

John Flora, group product manager for mobile solutions at IntuitFinancial Services in Calabasas, Calif., would agree. “Members havea wide variety of devices to choose from today and it's importantfor credit unions to take a holistic approach to mobile so they canmeet the needs of all their members,” he said.

That said, “nearly half of the mobile banking users we supportare using iPhones,” Flora added. “With iPad usage growing, there isa significant opportunity for credit unions to meet a specificmember need. The credit unions that do so will be better equippedto win and keep these relationships.”

And as for touch pads in general, going forward, Jonathan Corr,chief strategy officer for mortgage origination technologyspecialist Ellie Mae in Pleasanton, Calif., observed, “From acredit union's perspective, I see the movement toward tablets,whether iPad- or Droid-based, as an incredible opportunity to drivethe next level of mobile banking applications. Although there hasbeen some success on smart phones and the iPhone, the expanded formfactor of these new devices truly allows folks to do a tremendousamount of banking and other financial activities on the go.”

–[email protected]