As we reported earlier this week National Australia Bank together with Microsoft held a briefing for tech media, in Melbourne on Tuesday and Sydney on Wednesday,  to announce their latest mobile offering and an update on the changing behaviour of consumers when it comes to mobile banking.

But first a few facts that NAB shared about their apps and mobile internet banking.

• NAB was the first bank in Australia with an iPad app in May 2010
• NAB was the first bank to offer a passcode login system to mobile users of the official NAB apps on iPhone and Android in February this year, which makes the login process 85% faster
• Access of internet banking via mobiles peaks during ad breaks of popular TV shows (Example used was “The Block”)
• 36% of all internet banking is now done using a mobile phone (This number doesn’t include tablets)
• The number of people using mobile internet banking over other methods is increasing exponentially
• 80% of mobile internet banking users are using official apps from NAB, the other 20% are using the mobile version of the site

While the facts are nice to know, what we wanted to hear is the same thing that many Windows Phone users have been asking for since November 2010. When will NAB release an official app for Windows Phone? And we finally got our answer! NAB have worked with Microsoft to produce an app for Windows Phone 7 devices and that app is currently going through the Marketplace Certification process and is expected to be available on the 8th of August.

There has clearly been a lot of thought behind the app as they have leveraged some of the key features of Windows Phone such as Live Tiles, background updates, panoramas and directions to the nearest ATM or Branch. Check out the screen shots below.

According to Ben Forsyth, the Head of Mobile & Emerging Technologies at NAB, one of the key driving factors behind developing their new app for Windows Phone was the customer feedback they received from customers via their social media presence. A statement further backed up by their General Manager – Digital, Chris Smith.

“we take customer feedback seriously and have really listened when developing this app. We haven’t stopped at simply developing an app – we went one step further and partnered with Microsoft to deliver a market leading banking service for Windows Phone users” Chris Smith, NAB’s General Manager – Digital

So while NAB may be the second last of the major banks to have an app in Marketplace, they do appear to be the first to have a feature rich app that doesn’t just render a page in a browser. Users of the app can also expect to receive updates which introduce features and changes along side the iPhone, iPad and Android apps.

The app is also developed in Melbourne by NAB them selves so expect to see it appear in the Developed Down Under catalogue soon! And while there was no announcement or comment on an app for Windows 8, NAB have said that if they decide to make an app for the platform they will continue to work with Microsoft on a possible solution.

We will post an update when the app becomes available, so make sure you are following us on Twitter, download our app, like us on Facebook and sign up to the site. Because you will not want to miss this!

Garry.