By Ray Rischpater
In this article, I'll continue my examination of the MyPalm portal, which began in the August 2001 issue of PalmPower at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200108/mypalm001.html. This time around, I'll focus on the MyInfo portion of the portal.
MyInfo lets you access financial and travel account summaries from the Web or your wireless Palm handheld using the Palm Mobile Internet Kit or a Palm VII series handheld computer. Developed with Yodlee, MyInfo is perhaps the best-known example of account aggregation, which lets service providers offer a single personalized page to your myriad personal accounts.
"It's easy to take MyInfo for granted. It's like paying for gas at the pump with your debit card--once you do it, you can't imagine doing it any other way."
The concept behind account aggregation is simple: you log into a single Web site (MyInfo at http://myinfo.palm.net), and you're presented with a list of your accounts and their balances, such as your checking account, investment account, and credit cards. From that page, you can select a specific account, and the service opens a new window, taking you to the online site for the account you've selected. From there, you're connected directly to your bank-no need to enter additional passwords, your account number, or anything else. It's the first step towards the Web-based e-wallet, where you'll be able to manage accounts and make transactions, and someday purchases, directly from your handheld, without needing to pull out your credit cards or cash.
Using MyInfo
MyInfo is the easiest part of MyPalm to use, both on the Web and wirelessly. Figure A shows the login screen.
FIGURE A
Here's the MyInfo login screen. (click for larger image)
Like other services, you must first set up a personal account with your login and password. Signing up for MyInfo is more like creating a traditional bank account than signing up for an online service; the questions you answer help MyInfo identify you and establish your initial accounts. Palm has expressed commitment regarding both your identification information and your account information, and all communications from login to logout are protected using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) on the Web. Whether these assurances are enough for you to trust MyInfo is a personal decision, although in practice it's likely to be no riskier to use than any online access to your existing accounts. In other words, if you already trust online banking, you'll probably trust MyInfo.
After you log in, you're presented with a list of your accounts and their balances, as shown in Figure B.
FIGURE B
Here's the MyInfo Account Summary screen. (click for larger image)
This page is self-explanatory. You can break your accounts down into Travel and Finance categories, or you can see all balances at a glance. Clicking the account name brings you to the account provider's Web site, logging you in automatically. You can also use the pulldown menu on the left of an account to do the same, or see a MyInfo-generated graph of recent account activity. This data is provided by the MyInfo service as it queries your account on a regular basis, so it's not useful until you've used the service for a month or so.
