AT&T Inc. and Qualcomm's Firethorn Holdings LLC have released a mobile banking application for Apple's iPhone.

Mobile Banking on AT&T lets iPhone consumers manage their finances, including checking balances and transaction history, transferring funds, receiving offers, viewing and paying bills and tracking rewards points.

"This is a very exciting announcement, because this has been a popular application on other AT&T handsets, and it's great to bring it to iPhone as well," said Heather Buffington, Atlanta-based spokewoman for AT&T. "It's been getting great reviews from consumers in the App Store.

"Obviously we feel that the iPhone is a great device, and we've been very pleased with how customers have flocked to it," she said. "The Firethorn mobile banking application is great for anyone who wants to manage their finanmces conveniently from wherever they are using their handset."

The service is now available for all Firethorn financial institution partners, including America First Credit Union, Arvest Bank, BancorpSouth, Carolina First, FirstBank, Mercantile Bank, SunTrust, Synovus, USAA and Wachovia.

Additionally, iPhone customers will have access to any new financial institution added in the future.

"We want to link our phones and our brand with convenience and help our phones have a role in our customers' daily life beyond voice," Ms. Buffington said.

"Basically we want to show that the mobile phone can be a tool, remote control for your life, and we want to help make it a more useful tool with applications like mobile banking," she said.

"Word of mouth is so important for these types of apps, and people think it's convenient and are posting their comments online. Other customers look to peer feedback in the App Store to figure out if they want download the application and try it out, so we're excited about positive reponses it's received already."

AT&T and Firethorn have collaborated since 2006 to provide what they claim is usability and reliability in mobile banking.

The Firethorn mobile banking application aims to achieve ease of use, security and high visibility -- all strategically designed to achieve mass-market adoption.

The Mobile Banking on AT&T application is now available as a free download to iPhones from Apple's App Store or at http://www.itunes.com/appstore.

Among the offerings of AT&T operating companies are IP-based business communications services and wireless, high-speed Internet access and voice services.

AT&T is the No. 1 carrier nationwide.

As part of its three-screen integration strategy, AT&T is expanding its TV entertainment offerings.

Qualcomm's Firethorn is a mobile commerce enabler that has been tapped by financial institutions and wireless operators.

The Firethorn mobile wallet is a certified application embedded on select wireless handsets.

The application enables financial institutions to deliver branded services to consumers via the mobile device; wireless operators to deliver mass-market applications to subscribers; and mobile device users to access and add multiple financial relationships with one password.

"We're working to bring mobile banking to the AT&T mobile customer base, which has been a great thing for mobile banking, because they preload the application so it's easy for customers to find," said Kelly Buday, director of marketing for Firethorn, Atlanta.

"AT&T has done marketing with our financial institutions over past couple of years to promote mobile banking," she said.

"This announcement is significant, because the iPhone is a terrific handset to access the mobile banking application from. It's an excellent demographic, and we're excited to continue our partnership with AT&T."

AT&T has content promoting the mobile banking application on its Web site. The carrier has worked with financial institutions to get the word out via a variety of media.

Firethorn has done a lot of research of mobile banking demographics, which the company says spans various age groups and different segmentation profiles.

"We continue to see a lot of interest in the service from both consumers and financial institutions," Ms. Buday said. "Consumers what to have their financial information at their fingertips, so mobile banking continues to be a valuable service."