Communications and Technology Industry Research

A new study from Juniper Research (News - Alert) has found that by 2014, the value of mobile payments for digital and physical goods, money transfers and NFC (Near Field Communications) transactions will reach almost $630 billion. This will be up from $170 billion this year, which represents the gross value of all purchases or the value of money being transferred.

The mobile payments report reveals that the wide adoption of smartphones and the increased use of apps stores have driven growth across all market segments. Additionally SMS ticketing schemes like offers by OBB Austrian Railways and Skane Traffic in Sweden were also important developments. Significant expansion over the next five years has been foreseen for shopping by mobile at stores such as Amazon Mobile.

SMS driven money transfer services are the main driver in developing markets, increasing at a rate of 30 percent per annum.

Report author Howard Wilcox explained that their analysis shows that while the digital goods segment will account for nearly half of the market in 2010, the emerging segments such as physical goods payments, NFC and money transfers will also impact the market rapidly. They have forecasted that by 2014 physical goods mobile payments market will be worth $100 billion.

Other important listings in the report state that the top three regions for mobile payments, which are Far East & China, Western Europe and Northern America will represent nearly 70 percent of the global mobile payment gross transaction value by 2014. The report also says that new services and schemes are being actively established by vendors, retailers, merchants, content providers, mobile operators and banks. However, in some areas like NFC, greater collaboration will be required to establish a widely accepted business model that translates easily into tangible services.

The study provides the larger picture view of areas like mobile payments, providing forecasts of the main market segments of digital and physical goods purchases, contactless NFC and national and international money transfers and remittances, providing regional forecasts of gross transaction values.

Juniper Research specializes in the identification and appraisal of high growth opportunities across the telecoms and media sectors. These sectors are provided with research, analytical services, consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary by Juniper Research.