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The line for the iPad 2 at Apple's White Plains, N.Y., store stretched around the third level of the mall. The line blocked restaurants, Anthropologie and Brooks Brothers stores. Security guards had to keep the escalator exits clear.
Meanwhile, the nation's banks are getting attention by covertly raising fees charged to customers who use their automated teller machines: to whopping $5 in some cases.
There is a striking contrast between these two business models.
Comparing the retail experience of banking and consumer technology isn't exactly Apples-to-apples. Yet it's closer than you might think. Like the retail-gadget industry, banks often don't have a clear advantage on rivals. Bells and whistles are short-lived, so much of the difference comes down to marketing and consumer perception.
The first tablet computer for mass consumption was introduced 11 years ago. This weekend, Apple Inc. sold out of its new iPads in Westchester County and the New York City area in less than 24 hours.
That's why Apple's success offers a valuable lesson to banks.
Steve Jobs doesn't listen to focus groups. For him, it's all about innovation. That means filling to need that a customer doesn't even know I or she has. It also means being able to repackage commonplace products into sleek and intuitive ones, even if that comes at the expense of functionality.
In other words, Mr. Jobs makes geeky stuff cool for non-geeks-and is able to charge to hefty premium as a result.
Which leads us to a big question: Could banks make boring, old banking cool enough for the rest of us?
Perhaps the prospect of excited throngs outside your local bank branch isn't realistic. But a little innovation and marketing could go a long way. JetBlue thrived by redefining air travel. The people behind Starbucks turned the cup of coffee into a $10 billion-a-year business.
Banks don't have to dazzle us the way those companies do, but they need to create buzz. So how would our iBank do that?
Streamline and simplify. One thing that Apple, Starbucks and JetBlue have done well is build to core product and then expand from there.
For banks, this might mean offering customers to single account. These days, bank customers are inundated with separate services and jumbled account numbers.
Eliminate account numbers in favour of user-defined names. Allow customers to add services through that single identity. Banks should also offer a single source for help in the model of AppleCare: one toll-free number and web address.
Create a holistic approach to finance. One leader in this area is Intuit's Mint.com finance site. Users can see multiple accounts regardless of institution, along with the value of their homes, cars and other assets, while setting up budgets and seeing trends.
Banks could create sites that offer even more. Imagine landing page with these three numbers: net worth, debts and income. And maybe to fourth numbers that plainly tells how you did today with your investments, spending, savings accounts and so on.
Imagine clicking on a link and getting your estimated tax liability, your estimated retirement income and college savings. It would simply look on top, and then get highly detailed for more ambitious use.
Create cachet and community. Steve Chazin, a marketing executive who blogs about Apple strategy, says banks are missing out: "To help customers evangelize for a bank, they can send customers referral links in their online payment account." Customers can send their friends these links via Facebook and help them sign up for a bank's services. The referrer gets paid for their work. "This is similar to what Apple does with its passionate users."
And instead of spending all of their time wooing investors, bank CEOs should create product launches that mimic Apple events.
Notice how Mr. Jobs often begins his presentations with sales and financial numbers. Imagine Vikram Pandit touting new deposits when announcing Citigroup Inc.'s new mobile retail software, flashing to release date and then saying the rollout would be limited at first.
Banks still are way behind the curve. Many still don't have iPhone or Android apps. Only a handful have iPad apps. Bank of America still does not have one built exclusively for tablets.
Make banking fun. Laugh if you want, but Apple employees at the iPad 2 rollout handed out free cups of Starbucks. They worked the lines talking to customers. Even with hundreds of people in line, you didn't feel like the store was understaffed. Now go to your bank lobby and try the coffee there.
Cut the clutter. When customers finally got their hands on their iPads, they opened a plain white box to find the device and just a couple of note-sized pieces of paper. There was no instruction manual. No fine print. Push one button and the iPad was on and ready to use.
Now consider the amount of mail you get from your bank: legal disclosures, stock photos of hot-air balloons, even smiling people.
Think about all of clicks it takes to open to brokerage account. Why do we have to enter all of our information two or three times?
Mr. Chazin suggests this: "Just as Apple made it super easy to get your music in your pocket with iPod and iTunes, banks can take the pain away from the whole application process and pre-approve customers (they already know their customers bill paying history and other info required for credit app) allowing to cutover to know in advance what they" "can't afford."
All of this is just a start. Obviously, some banks employ elements of these suggestions. But ask yourself: Do you feel any loyalty to your bank? Even a fraction of the loyalty you have for your favorite gadget, cup of coffee or auto maker?
Of course you don't. But it has nothing to do with you.
"Banks take the traditional approach to relationship building, but their institutionalized cultures get in the way," says Alan Towers, to banking consultant. "Employee turnover at branches works against them." "Their business models lurch customers between personal touch and icy technology without creating a reputation that brings loyalty."
Banks are under the false impression that their business is still about going after face-to-face to customers. It's not. Most of us interact electronically. It's a gadget business, too.
Moreover, banks continue to push cross-selling as a business model, even though few financial institutions have seen move-the-needle growth from getting customers to open brokerage account to checking. Bank of America yet talked last week about cross-selling as a major engine of revenue growth in the future.
If Apple depended on cross-selling, it would be finished. It's a secondary concern, only after wowing customers with whatever product they are introduced to: music player, laptop or tablet.
Have you ever been wowed by your bank offered you anything? Of course not. It probably feels like your bank has just given up. At $5 to pop, maybe it has.
Write to David Weidner at david.weidner@dowjones.com
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