Mobile banking: it's coming, but it's not here yet.

The use of mobile devices for banking is only starting to emerge, according to a new survey by Synergistics Research Corp., Atlanta, entitled, "Mobile Banking: The Consumer Viewpoint."

Providers face a number of market challenges that may impact the usage of mobile banking, such as varying technologies and platforms, device functionality and screen-size issues, pricing--particularly in the context of minute usage--as well as security.

The survey showed that users of mobile banking (cell phone of PDA/organizer) currently view this service as a secondary or emergency banking method. Slightly more than one-quarter of the cell phone users say this is their primary method of performing banking transactions, while more than one-third say it is a secondary method; close to four in ten do so only in an emergency.

"However, the excitement surrounding mobile banking indicates that once existing barriers are overcome, it may entertain wider consumer response, perhaps being spurred by growth in the mobile payments area," says Genie M. Driskill of Synergistics.

The national online survey was conducted in October and November of 2006 with 1,013 consumers age 18 or older across all income groups.