The much-anticipated launch of the first truly virtual consumer bank is fast approaching. How do we know? From its tweets, of course (see inset).

Customers who joined the wait list in 2010 are being told publically that they will receive invites "before spring is over." Others are being told "early summer," "mid-to-late summer," "early fall" and "fall."  Based on those responses, it looks the company plans to work through its entire 100,000 wait list within the next 6 months.

A critical piece of the grand opening is pushing the Simple mobile app past the gatekeepers at Apple. That happened last week (9 May). Within 48 hours, the app had already jumped to 13th-most-popular in the finance section, despite the fact that no one but a few early testers could actually use it. Today, it's fallen back to 53rd in the rankings.

In terms of how it works, all we can do now is drool over the half-dozen screenshots published in the store and on the Simple website. We especially like how they've anchored the forward-looking "Safe-to-Spend" balance in the top-center of every page (see below). The app also includes remote check deposit, something the startup has talked about before.

We'll look at it in much more detail once we get our Simple account, presumably in the next three to four weeks.

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Simple mobile banking app, v1.3.1 (14 May 2011)   
Itemized transaction with                     Extra authentication code  
Safe-to-Spend balance on top               for higher-value transfers

Luckily, I ran into Jim Simpson, SVP IT at City Bank Texas, at Finovate Tuesday, or I might have missed his bank's significant new app update this week.

I am so impressed with what they are doing down there in Lubbock. First, it was the debit card on/off switch a few months ago. And now they just added three new control switches (see inset):

• Increase daily withdrawal limit at the ATM
• Increase daily debit card purchasing limit
• Allow foreign transactions

All three controls temporarily increase limits so customers can easily approve their own authorization exceptions (within limits). 

Bottom line: Putting more control into the customers' hands is what mobile banking is all about. And City Bank has taken the lead.

But they are just getting started. From what Jim told me this week, they have plenty of other ideas in the hopper. Keep an eye on these guys. 

Our fifth annual FinovateSpring in San Francisco concluded a few hours ago. After seeing 63 demos over two packed days, the audience voted for their three favorites each day. The top seven overall were named Best of Show (see notes).

The winners (in alphabetic order):

• BehavioSec for its new security layer based on user typing/swiping patterns
• BillGuard for its card charge dispute platform, BillGuard FI
• Dwolla for its FISync service to enable banks to originate real-time payments
• iQuantifi for its new financial planning & advice tools
• MoneyDesktop for its PFM platform and integrated "deals"
• Personal Capital for its iPhone app and interbank funds transfer
• SoMoLend for its P2P lending platform

We'll have videos of all 63 demos posted at Finovate.com as fast as possible (probably 2 weeks out).

Thanks to everyone who presented, attended, tweeted, swapped biz cards, schmoozed and helped push fintech forward. You are the greatest! 

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Notes on methodology:
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.   
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites as the day went on and choose three favorites from just the demos of that day. Ballots were turned in at the end of the last demo session each day. 
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: "Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed. Note: Ballots with more than three companies circled will not be counted." 
4. The seven companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named Best of Show.
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners.

It turns out that setting up for 1,200 attendees takes a bit more time than we had anticipated. But everything is set, the demos are all working, and we are ready to kick things off Tuesday morning at 9 AM sharp.

You can read all about the 64 product launches during the next two days at our Finovate blog. And we'll be tweeting away from @finovate while hundreds of others do the same with the #finovate hashtag.

To everyone joining us in San Francisco, and for all that are following from afar, we truly appreciate it!

Ally Bank jumped into the mobile fray launching a pair of apps last week, one for customers with account access, and the other an "ATM & Cash-Back Finder," the anyone can use.

The apps are well designed, as you'd expect from a direct bank with 1 million customers and $30 billion on deposit (note 1). But there were two novel features worth highlighting:

1. Real-time wait time in the call center: The mobile app contains a very prominent real-time indicator of just how long you'll be on hold if you call Ally Bank. I've already raved about the Website version of this feature, so I won't go into much detail. But it makes even more sense to place it front and center on an app on a mobile phone used to call the bank (see left screenshot below).   

2. Cash-back locations included with ATM finder: While I'm not sure if this is an industry first, but after a fairly extensive search in the Apple App Store came up empty, I know it's not common. Ally combines ATM locations and places where you can get cash back at the POS into a single map and/or list view (see right screenshot below).   

Ally mobile banking app                  Ally ATM & Cash Finder app 
for customers                                              for anyone                           

Ally also makes sure its website visitors know they've gone mobile with a clever graphic in the middle-right of the homepage.

Ally homepage featuring new mobile offering (3 May 2012)

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Notes:
1. Ally announced the 1-million-customer milestone along with mobile apps (press release). Compared to a year ago, accounts were up 30% and deposits grew 25%.
2. While this could increase call-center calls, Ally must believe the customer advocacy positioning makes up for the increased costs.