NEW YORK - JPMorgan Chase & Co. wants to make it easier for people to pay using their mobile phone, American Banker reports. The banker added two new features to its application for the iPhone that allow users to deposit checks and conduct person-to-person payments.

JPMorgan Chase hopes that people who use their phones to deposit checks also would want to use the devices to transfer funds from person-to-person. "The more people start using their phone and seeing their phone as a payment??or a banking device, you??re going to get adoption of a broader array of services," said Jack Stephenson, director of mobile, e-commerce and payments for JPMorgan Chase.

Early results indicate both payment services have "very high adoption" rates, but Stephenson said it would take time to figure out if the uses would overlap. "Our strategy is around convenience," he said. "You want to allow customers to do business in the channel of their choice."

JPMorgan Chase developed the apps for the iPhone and iPad initially because of the higher user rates those devices have. The company has plans to enlarge its mobile services to other phones and devices, although Stephenson declined to name which ones or how soon those apps would be launched.

Other banks are testing similar applications, such as Citigroup Inc. and Fiserv Inc., which both discovered users desired mobile payment options to be bundled with other services. "Any time you can get a user to make a mobile transaction, you??re going down the right road," said Erich Litch, a senior vice president and general manager for consumer services at Fiserv.