The number contactless payments made via mobile handsets will reach 148 million this year, according to a study conducted by Juniper Research.
Samsung and Apple will account for approximately 70 per cent of new customers.
The study showed consumers have been very receptive to this payment method mostly because of their strategic placement. When Apple Pay was introduced in China, nearly 40 million payment cards were registered to the service in 24 hours in mid-February.
Another reason why this method of payment will surge is that nearly one in five point-of-sale terminals in the US are now contactless-capable, so the infrastructure necessary to make things work is in place. Smartphones will be the number one driver in the US.
The report also revealed banks and leading “over the top” players will deploy Host Card Emulation-based (HCE) models.
“The combination of HCE and tokenisation is extremely attractive to banks. HCE means that they are not dependent on a mobile operator to enable the service; tokenisation reduces the burden on the issuer and allows them to use their existing infrastructure,” research co-author, Dr. Windsor Holden, said.
The study mentioned, however, that NFC sticker-based solutions can be risky. It stated that even in closed-loop solutions, there’s a chance thieves could simply use all the money in the wallet at participating retail outlets.
This article first appeared on our sister site, Inside Retail.
