“…The issue is not just whether these activities can be done via the mobile channel, but whether enough readers and trades will shift to the mobile channel to justify the investment….Mr. Schehr explained that the fit between active traders’ needs and the value of mobile trading is limited as the hardware form factor of smartphones makes technical analysis difficult, and other alternatives for rule-based trading diffuse much of the need for mobile access…”

We agree, wholeheartedly, here is why :

#1 Q: :..a user who trades via mobile once or twice a month is unlikely to generate revenue sufficient to cover the costs of developing the technology infrastructure to support the channel…”

#1 A: Investment for a retail brokerage to go mobile : Zero! (Yes!) on MarketSimplified

#2 Q: form factor of smartphones makes technical analysis difficult, and other alternatives for rule-based trading

#2 A: Power Options for End-Users : Technical Analysis & Analytics on MarketSimplified

#3 Q: “..As a result, Gartner advises those thinking of developing mobile trading capabilities to carefully analyze how much of their client base consists of active traders, and conservatively estimate the incremental revenue that mobile trading will deliver from them. This should then be compared with the cost of implementing mobile trading in multiple device platforms…”

A: Totally! with Mobility SaaS such as MarketSimplified, not only they can save good money in a tight economy that would otherwise be wasted on developing a mobile channel on multiple devices(ehw…6 smartphones out there), but still embrace cutting edge technology and remain relevant in the technology arms race(all five of the largest U.S. discount brokers offer mobile trading, so would you want to be left out ?); it is to have the cake and eat it too with MarketSimplified

Here is a simplistic illustration that can justify mobile trading ROI for US Brokers :

US Discount Brokers Mobile Trading ROI Comparison with SaaS

Also here is a detailed worksheet to plug in numbers yourself to see the truth US Discount Brokers Mobile Channel ROI WorkSheet

Seriously we’re not kidding!

Any US discount brokerage can get 6 mobile application of their own(iPhone, Blackberry, Windows, Android, Palm Pre & Symbian) on a zero cost saas model;

So what’s the catch ?, SaaS is pay per use(or per trade), thus if only 5% of active traders base of an brokerage end up using mobile, then it would cost them less than 0.5% of their revenue, now this is what is proportional & one hugely favoring the brokerage, while still letting them offer cutting edge technology to their customers, regardless of who they are, even if its only early adapters, tech-geeks and nobody beyond that.

Is this real ?  who is using this ? 5 discount brokers among the top brokerages listed by barrons, see marketsimplified.com