Rating: 1 in 4 mobile users will pay in-store using NFC
By 2017, over one four 4 of Western European and USA mobile phone users will use an NFC-enabled mobile phone to pay for goods in-store, claims Juniper Research. GoMobile News finds this a very interesting prediction given that less than two per cent of users will be paying by NFC this year [ 2012]. Where are all the NFC-enabled handsets going to come from? Apple still doesn’t offer one. Anyway, the report entitled ‘NFC Mobile Payments & Retail Marketing: Business Models & Forecasts 2012-2017‘ covers the key advantages to NFC; and customer care concerns. It also argues that mobile network operators will be able to offset declining ARPU as they commit to NFC-based payment projects.“NFC retail payments are still at an early stage, but hold great promise, says Dr Windsor Holden, co-author of the report.
“In 2011 we saw significant strides made within the ecosystem such as the launch of Google Wallet.
[Plus we saw] the announcements of more mobile wallet consortia and the supply of an increasing number of NFC-enabled smartphone models.
NFC is now impacting the public consciousness and we expect a rapid market expansion from 2012 onwards,” Holden added.
The report forecasts that NFC mobile payments will exceed $180 billion worldwide in 2017.
While mobile retail payment services of all types are growing in popularity, the ability to ‘tap’ an NFC phone against a POS terminal to make a purchase has tremendous user appeal, the report discovered.
For mobile wallet providers and partners, NFC payments also provide new and personalised retail marketing and sales opportunities above and beyond the capabilities of debit or credit cards.
Furthermore NFC payments can also integrate with other NFC applications, such as metro ticketing.
Given that NFC payments are a complex fusion of mobile, financial and retail technology; the report warns that a single point of contact to take responsibility for resolving a problem quickly and efficiently must be established. Otherwise users will desert the service.
A whitepaper – ‘NFC Mobile Payments ~ No Contact Required’, is available to download from the Juniper web site here.
Interesting article but obviously focuses on what is perceived as a first world goegraphy with first world technology? This often means that simple, cost effective solutions are ignored because Apple doesn’t do them, for example. This also means that the measurement for NFC use for payments/ technologies is often skewed.
Example; In the US, the hispanic community is numbered in their millions+ and that community is more likely to adopt NFC as it has a practical use to them, whereas first world citizens (as implied in your article) look at the solution as a gimmick. Don’t get me wrong, every solution has its niche but we need to look at the global use and impact of a technology and its many applications to fully realise its potential.
Take a look at these guys: http://www.verifonemwallet.com
They touch all markets + industries (banking, telco, transport, retail etc etc) – NFC capability could cost 7 cents on ANY handset…now think of that reach today.
If we believed everything that we read by these, Gartner and the other bozos so-called “research” companies, we would all be broke.
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