Mobile Payments 'To Grow Five-fold by 2013'

Contactless payments made via mobile phones are set to increase in popularity, a study shows.

Juniper Research said that around £151 billion will be transacted worldwide in this way per year by 2013, due to developments in the technology. The five-fold improvement is set to be boosted through the increasing popularity of using phones to make low-cost payments in lieu of cash.

Moreover, ticketing is set to bolster the transaction amounts still further, making up around 40 per cent of the payments within five years, the study found. The Far East and Western Europe were also expected to be the main early adoptions of the technology, with the regions providing the source of around 60 per cent of transaction values.

Juniper's report author, Howard Wilcox, pointed to the recent successes of internet shopping as a way of explaining mobile phone payments' future growth. "Merchants in North America and Western Europe are just starting to realise the potential of a mobile-web presence as a fourth channel to market," he commented. "Retailers should be evaluating the benefits of the mobile web, and be mindful of the success of regular e-commerce sites in generating sales."

Mr Wilcox added: "They need to move quickly to exploit the opportunity presented, and ensure that they maintain ease of use for their customers who are already familiar with web shopping from their PCs."