City slickers to bet by Iphone

ANOTHER GOOD way of parting Iphone-totting City slickers from their bonus payments is just about to hit – spread betting. One of the leading proponents of spread betting – IG Index – will launch a new service on March 21^st.

IG is proposing to offer a browser orientated version of its Puredeal spread betting service which will be mobile-friendly and thus ideal for web browser mobile phones such as the Apple Iphone.

To date, IG Index has offered this service to mobile handsets via a Java app download. This runs on a wide range of handsets and can be obtained by texting 'mobile' to 80800. Or by visiting www.igmobile.com from the handset's browser.

The Iphone is something of a gift for the spread betters since the previous alternative – a Crackberry – frequently encounters problems. City slickers find they can't get through the company firewall to place their bets on a corporate Crackberry.

Currently the market for mobile originated bets is quite tiny. IG recently told the FT that it gets around 25,000 trades a month from handsets compared to around 1.25 million trades placed over the standard internet.

That could easily change thanks to the Iphone and IG's rivals – such as City Index – are thinking of following suit and launching more mobile friendly versions of their services.

Spread betting is, of course, quite a dangerous pursuit. It's actually possible to lose more than the value of the original bet if you get it badly wrong. But then buying an Iphone is a bit of a gamble in the first place, isn't it? µ