I wrote this article on FNB for Realmdigital the company I have been interning with and felt I should let you guys read about it as well as I find it pretty interesting.

FNB seems to be ‘the bank’ to bank with in the 21st century. In line with the release of their new FNB Banking App, they have decided to go against the grain and provide their FNB Gold and Platinum Cheque Account holders with smart phones and tablets at a reduced rate. This reduction could be as much as 35% on these devices. Not bad when you looking at paying R4, 800 (16% off) for an iPad2 as opposed to R5, 699 or R1, 680 (35% off) for a HTC Wildfire S which normally retails for around R2, 600. Customers who wish to take up this offer should SMS "phone" or "tablet" to 32812 (standard network rates apply).

FNB have taken note of the transition from “traditional banking” to online banking and are vigorously promoting day to day banking via electronic banking channels, such as the FNB Banking App, Internet and Mobile banking, as well as paying for your goods with your card rather than cash.

The FNB App allows customers to do:

• Day to day banking
• View Forex rates
• Buying Prepaid airtime
• Make calls within South Africa at the cheapest rates
• Make cheap international calls with no roaming activation
• Find FNB branches and ATMs using location-based services

Will this increase the mobile adoption rate?

With this latest innovation from FNB the mobile adoption rate in South Africa is predicted to grow at phenomenal rates. But what does this mean for brands and consumers? Brands have to work on including a mobile strategy into their traditional marketing strategy. They need to realise that although the feature phone usage in South Africa highly dominates the smart phone and tablet usage, innovations such as these are set to change the mobile landscape. Niche brands need to start targeting their consumers via their smartphones and tablets. Apps are the way forward in this mobile landscape and companies like FNB have realised this early in the game by providing FNB clients with a FNB mobile banking app. You will also begin to see more brands embarking on strategies for Mobile Commerce targeting the smart shopper.

Kartik Mistry, Product Owner at FNB Core Banking Solutions explains that "this initiative is aimed at putting smartphones and tablets, including the world's most popular tablet, the Apple iPad 2 in the hands of our customers in order to promote access to electronic banking. A key feature of this offer is the affordability both in terms of bank fees and mobile devices. “

South African brands and consumers who have their doubts should keep an eye out for the increase in smart phone and tablet statistics. If you don't own a tablet and still complain about how terrible your bank is then you should highly consider moving to FNB today!