Banks that do offer mobile banking saw almost double the use of these services from 2008 to 2009, according to IDC Financial Services' "2009 Consumer Mobile Banking Preferences Survey Results - Waiting for Takeoff." Use of mobile banking also showed an overall gain throughout the banking industry.

Similarly, a recent study by comScore found that 13.2 million people accessed bank accounts from mobile sites during the month of April, 2010, a 70 percent increase over a year ago.

Consumers "Getting More Comfortable"
In IDC's survey results, mobile banking services turned out to be most popular among younger males, although all demographics showed usage of the services.

Check image viewing and getting rate information on the mobile device seemed to wane, but customized alerts increased, for instance.

The survey also suggested that consumers are getting more comfortable about setting up bank accounts online, outside of traditional brick-and-mortar branch locations, said Marc DeCastro, senior research manager for IDC Financial Insights, in a statement.

Yet although mobile banking might have turned the corner in terms of customer acceptance over the past year, it still isn't a mainstream channel.