The Pocket Agent application lets customers endorse a check, enter the amount and take a picture. The application is also available on Apple’s iPhone.

“Our strategy is to provide mobile services that our customers want and value,” said Matt Edwards, social media analyst at State Farm, Bloomington, IL. “We have a large customer base and needed to extend our native apps beyond iPhone.

“There is clear growth and adoption of the Android platform,” he said. “We need to go where our customers are.”

State Farm provides consumers car and home insurance, banking, annuities and mutual fund products.

Mobile checking
Consumers can deposit checks into their State Farm Bank savings, checking, interest checking and Money Market accounts.

The service sends a confirmation notice from the bank when a check is received.

The on the spot deposits support scanning of unlimited checks per day.

In addition, the maximum daily deposit is $10,000.

The service works with Android versions 1.5 and up.

“We continue to evaluate, but with finite resources our focus is on iPhone and Android for apps as well as our mobile Web site that provides services to customers who can access the Internet from their phone,” Mr. Edwards said.

Banking on mobile
The company is also planning to launch additional updates to Pocket Agent in the next few months.

With the additional updates consumers will be able to view their transaction history and pay their bills.

In addition, home scanning for check deposit will be available for all State Farm Bank customers.

“We’re looking to focus is on key financial and banking features like bill pay and view account transactions for the iPhone, Android, and mobile Web,” Mr. Edwards said.

Final Take
Rimma Kats is editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York