Finovate Day 2: Make way for mobile apps

Greetings from Finovate Fall New York, an annual conference where financial software companies show off their new products, both for consumers and the business community. Today I'll be writing about brand-new financial apps for consumers, as well as new developments by established online services.—Tobie Stanger 

The message is loud and clear at Finovate: Forget about sitting at a terminal or even opening a laptop. Mobile is where it's at, whether in "smart" credit cards or new mobile apps for consumers. Here are a few noteworthy developments from today's morning presentations:

A new type of rewards card. Rewards junkies might like a new form of plastic introduced today by Dynamics in partnership with Citibank that lets you use a credit card to redeem your loyalty rewards for purchases without having to go online or phone your rewards program. Two new Citibank credit cards, Citi PremierPass 2G and Citi Dividend 2G, offer two different buttons on their fronts. Press one to use the card for a credit payment. Press the other and use rewards for your purchase. The buttons even have little lights to signal when they've been selected. The cards are scheduled to debut next month. 

Buy a soda, a movie or a plane ticket via smart phone. Blaze Mobile is marketing a sticker that, when attached to a mobile device, acts like a credit card. The user taps her mobile device against a special terminal at a retailer, chooses a payment option that appears on her screen, and automatically makes the purchase. To buy a movie ticket, she can search for a movie, a theater, a time, select adult or child tickets, choose the payment option, and purchse. The ticket's bar code is automatically stored in her cel phone. (Question: What does the theater do with it at the other end?) The same application, called Blaze Wallet, lets you get rewards and find instant coupons right on your mobile phone.

Search for a mortgage, deposit a check. Mortgagebot, a search engine that banks and Web sites use to help consumers search for mortgages, featured its new mobile app, including 30,000 different loan programs. (But would you really want to search for a mortgage on the beach on in the subway?)  ClairMail, another technology provider, introduced a mobile app to let consumers take photos of their checks for deposit to transmit directly to their financial institution without visiting the branch.

From Finovate Fall Day 1:

Financial voyeurism and a free credit score

Finovate focus: Consumers who need money fast