Over Half a Billion NFC Devices on the Market Within a Year
Nearly 300 million NFC-enabled mobile and consumer electronic devices will ship in 2013, with that number set to grow to more than 500 million in 2014, according to ABI Research. ABI’s John Devlin says 2013 is likely to become a tipping point in terms of NFC capability in mobile devices, but this growth is being driven by device manufacturers rather than by banks and payment providers. The report found that Samsung and Blackberry are integrating NFC into their devices as a way to generate new service-based revenue streams, while LG and Sony are integrating NFC into their entire portfolio of devices, not just mobile. Devlin says it is only a matter of time before NFC-capability becomes standard across handsets, and that this eventuality may help to solve the chicken and egg problem of NFC-enabled mobile payments, which has long been held in limbo over concerns by banks, merchants, and others about the viability of the format. Devlin says because of this it is still likely to be at least a year before NFC-enabled payments can be successfully scaled up for the mass market.
From “Report: Over Half a Billion NFC Devices on the Market Within a Year”
NFC News (04/01/13)