NFC mobile payments 2 - 5 years out says survey

A survey carried out at MWC by mobile commerce and messaging specialist Sybase 365 has found that 81 per cent of mobile industry executives believe that NFC will not emerge as a driver for mass adoption of mobile payment services for another two to five years. Less than ten per cent of delegates polled said they believed that NFC payments would become mainstream in the next year.

Mobile payment was one of the hot topics for MWC 2012, and a wide range of initiatives from the relevant sectors are now coming to fruition.  But there is still a need for consumer education around the convenience and benefits of  mobile payment offerings, Sybase365 found.

The firm said that 38 per cent of respondents believed that consumer concern over the security of personal financial information exchanged during mobile transactions will represent the most significant barrier to widespread adoption of mobile payments.

The same number expressed concerns around the development of standards and the need for collaboration between the different stakeholders in the mobile payment ecosystem.

“Material advances for mobile payments will only come about when banks, operators and retailers can converge on a business model, and with it true industry interoperability, leading to a widely embraced mobile payments system,” said John Sims, president of Sybase 365.

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