Visa and PayPal are consumers’ preferred mobile wallet providers at 15% and 13%, while mobile network operators Verizon and AT&T and Apple follow closely behind (view press release). According to a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research, to become a valued m-wallet provider, consumer consider three important factors; trust, innovation and privacy. A balanced approach of the three is more important to consumers, as PayPal and Visa have demonstrated with high scores in these categories.
The report claims that while m-payments and mobile POS purchasing experienced little adoption, there is an increased demand from consumers as new mobile devices and technologies enter the market. It also indicates that over 60% of mobile bankers are likely to adopt an m-wallet in the next 12 months. Javelin’s research identifies crucial factors that will facilitate adoption of mobile wallets and ranks providers according to consumer trust, technologies and strategies that will enable players to compete in the industry.
Providers will also have to determine which mobile POS technology such as NFC, cloud or bar code to use. In the near-term, bar codes and cloud-based wallets will proliferate, as they do not require mobile phone upgrades or merchant investments in terminals and systems. With Apple’s iPhone 5 coming soon and other new devices following the iPhone, it is expected that NFC chip technology will prevail as it offers the convenience of paying with a simple tap or wave of the phone.
“NFC faces significant barriers to adoption by merchants and consumers, but it is standards-based technology that will eventually prevail as the main mobile point-of-sale technology,” said Mary Monahan, Executive Vice President and Research Director, Mobile at Javelin. “Google was first out the door with NFC and has stumbled. When Apple enters the payment space with NFC, we expect Apple iPhone 5 will lead the way and others will follow Apple’s lead.”
Javelin Strategy & Research’s report is titled ‘Battle for Control of the Mobile Wallet: Sorting out Players, Technologies and Strategies to Win’.
