Consolidation of Mobile Payments Landscape Will Drive Uptake
The mobile payments landscape is rapidly evolving but remains fragmented, according to “Mobile Payments: An Updated Forecast, Early Successes, and Visions for the Future,” a new eMarketer report. Payment processors, tech firms, mobile carriers, banks, credit card companies, retailers, and startups all see a multibillion-dollar opportunity in mobile payments, the report notes. However, there are currently are relatively few users of mobile wallet technology. Half of U.S. smartphone owners are familiar with the concept, but only 16 percent of this group have used it within the past six months, according to a Chadwick Martin Bailey study. The opportunity to save money is driving the early adopters of mobile payments, notes a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey, but convenience is what will keep customers coming back and paying with their smartphones. PayPal has a large lead over the rest of the field in terms of consumer awareness and usage. “We think that the value of connected devices is that we’re going to be able to bring the power of connected commerce to the physical realm; not necessarily the point of sale, but the entire store,” says PayPal’s Patrick Gauthier.
From “Consolidation of Mobile Payments Landscape Will Drive Uptake”
eMarketer (07/25/13)