Anytime, anywhere: that’s today’s financial services mantra andit is unavoidable fact.

John Fiore, CEO of the $730 million Motorola Employees Credit Union inSchaumburg, Ill., said as much in a statement where the39,000-member credit union announced rollout of its mobile apps fora range of smartphones. "We're very pleased to be able to deliverthis mobile banking solution and provide members the informationthey need anytime, anywhere,” he said.

What consumers want and what they are getting are not inalignment, however. The reality is that - pioneers such as MotorolaEmployees FCU aside - comparatively few credit unions have takenthe smartphone app plunge.

A search in the Apple iPhone appstore found a couple hundred credit unions with apps. There arethe expected ($44 billion giant Navy Federal). There are theeducator-focused credit unions such as the $1.3 billion Apple FCU(created to serve Fairfax County, Va., educators, not employees atthe high-tech giant) and the $5 billion Suncoast Schools SunMobile.And there are the hardcore tech credit unions (such as the $1.1billion NASA FCU).

A search in the Android Market uncoveredaround 75 credit union apps, mainly issued by credit unionsrepresented on the iPhone. Still fewer credit unions arerepresented in apps stores for WindowsMobile and BlackBerry, the other two smartphone formats.

Do the math and by any estimate upwards of 7,000 credit unionsdo not currently have a mobile app.

But the evidence mounts that consumers want to be able to bankfrom their handheld devices and, in most cases that means an app isneeded. Banking with a smartphone via regular websites is just noteasy - the screen is the wrong size and few financial websites areoptimized for mobile access.

As for the proof that users want this, there is a growingmountain of survey data. In an April 5press release, for instance, payments provider FIS noted: “50%of all smartphone owners used mobile banking within the last 30days.”

FIS continued: “Mobile banking from smartphones nearly doubledin the past year.”

CTIA, the wireless tradeassociation, now pegs the number of smartphones in the US at 78.2million (up from 49.8 in 2009) and that number means the vastmajority of financial services customers now have the ability touse mobile apps.

What is stopping credit unions from developing mobileapps? “They get intimidated by the idea,” said Jesse Waites,CEO of Beacon Hill Appsin Boston.

Three big concerns pop up as obstacles: fears about the costs,the time involved, and the complexity are the major roadblocks, saythe experts - but those experts also say the fears areoverblown.

Cost, for instance, can be as low as $5,000 to $10,000 for aniPhone app, said Matt Johnston, CMO at uTest, a software testing firm inSouthborough, Mass. That figure probably buys a barebones app. Wanta slicker app? At the $15 billion Pentagon Federal, the threemobile apps it has introduced - for iPad, iPhone, and Android -cost “in the low six figures, total,” said spokesman BenScandlen.

As for time, Johnston at uTest said that a thorough, deliberateapps development process would not take more than four months, andthat is a schedule allowing for extensive testing.

Mobile games and similar popular apps, incidentally, can becreated in much faster timeframes, said Johnston. With financialapps there necessarily will be more testing, to ensure not justthat the apps work as hoped but also that privacy and securityrequirements are met.

A usual procedure is to first test with a small group ofemployees, then with a larger group of employees and volunteermembers, and only then move to a broad rollout. That painstakingtesting is why timeframes for release are elongated, Johnstonsaid.

Complexity, said Scandlen at PenFed, is less than many credit unionsmight fear because PenFed’s advice is to partner with a specialistfirm that brings extensive mobile sophistication into the deal.“What we found was that, since we worked with a partner, theprocess was much simpler than we had thought,” said Scandlen.

A key – that speeds up a lot of the process – is to deliver appsfunctionality in stages. The PenFed apps, for instance, donot yet allow members to make mobile payments - though they doallow a range of activities such as finding ATMs and transferringmoney from one PenFed account to another. As the institution gainsexperience with apps, Scandlen said functionality will be augmented- but the safe way to proceed is to take it a step at a time.

At Tyfone, a Portland, Ore.,developer of apps for many credit unions, only two of their clientscurrently offer mobile bill paying, for example. But as othercredit unions decide to make their app more powerful, building inthat feature will typically not be that challenging, said MarkMiyamoto, Tyfone’s director of product development for mobilebanking.

Another plus of mobile apps – perhaps often ignored – is thatthey let credit unions build closer relationships with members.PenFed’s Scandlen explained this is because “they come with a pushcapability.” That means pertinent messages can be put directly infront of a particular member, inside the app, and the belief iswidespread that readership of pushed notices is significantlyhigher than readership of email. For members who do not want pushednotices, turning them off is a matter of unchecking a box but, sofar, few members are asking to be taken out of the notifications,say the experts.

As for the future of mobile banking, it will just get stronger,said Tyfone’s Miyamoto. His firm prediction: a substantially largerpercentage of credit union members will adopt mobile banking thanhave ever adopted online banking. The sheer convenience of havingwhat amounts to a handheld credit union branch will win them over,he insisted. “Mobile banking is getting its own identity versusonline banking; it’s the financial services of tomorrow.”