Wesabe + iPhone = Managing Money on the Go

Wesabe, a popular and free online personal financial management tool, announced this week the launch of a free iPhone application for consumers who want to track and manage money on the go via iPhone or iPod Touch.

The new Wesabe iPhone app lets users see all of their bank, investment and credit card accounts; track cash spending on the fly; categorize and tag purchases; graph spending and earnings, and monitor financial targets.

Strategically, Wesabe is building its base of customers and banks by offering multiple ways for people and financial institutions to interact with or offer its tool:

• Consumers can use Wesabe directly at wesabe.com

• Banks can offer a branded web-based version of Wesabe

• Users of web-enabled PDAs or phones can use Wesabe Mobile

• Users can download the Wesabe iPhone application

• Banks can “white label” or brand the iPhone app, allowing them to further customize the software with such features as ATM finders (tied to iPhone GPS) or bill pay

While mobile banking services offered by banks are not new or necessarily cool (think basic SMS or text-based “mobile” banking), actual full-featured downloadable applications offered by banks or through iTunes App Store have been fewer but now are gaining traction.

In today’s listing of the top 20 free finance apps at the iTunes App Store, a majority include offerings from banks such as Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, PNC, and other investment or personal financial management companies such as eTrade, Mint.com, PayPal, and even AT&T with its Mobile Banking app.

Instead of viewing these new offerings as competition, bank marketing and technology execs could quickly realize the value in delivering personal financial management tools fast to the masses via web or downloadable apps.

Rather than toiling in-house with overworked IT teams to develop custom apps or sites, banks can now team up with leading edge financial management providers, re-brand it as their own, and they’re off and running.

Meanwhile, banks no doubt will want to figure out how to monetize such offerings.

The first step?

Forget giving away free blankets, tote bags or toasters for opening a new checking account.

Instead, attract more customers by giving away free iPhones pre-loaded with a branded and cutting-edge personal money management application.