In 2008 and 2011 Telecompaper conducted research amongst its Consumer Panel on attitudes to mobile payments in shops. Following similar research in August and September 2012, this research brief looks at the changes over the past year. Although many research reports show a continued interest in mobile payments, the service remains more talked about than actively used. In 2008 only 22 percent of our panel was interested. By 2011 this had risen to 46 percent, and in September 2012, the figure was 52 percent. Youngsters remain more interested in mobile payments than the older age groups, and smartphone users are more interested in the possibility of using mobile payments in a shop than consumers with older feature phones. Downloading a free app remains the most popular way to enable mobile payment, while the willingness to pay a maximum of EUR 5 for the service has increased. The age groups 20-29 and 30-39 years old are the most willing to pay for downloading a mobile payment app.
The future is looking bright for mobile payments thanks to the increasing use of smartphones, more NFC-enabled phones coming on the market and the fact that people are using their phone more often for other financial tools such as checking their bank balances and transferring money.
