Singapore, Canada, the US, Kenya and South Korea are the top five markets in the first 'Global Mobile Payments Readiness Index (MPRI)' published by MasterCard. The index, which is a dynamic web-based tool, analyses and ranks 34 markets worldwide in terms of how ready (or not) they are to implement three kinds of mobile payments, namely person-to-person transfers initiated from a mobile device, payments for goods and services made over the internet on a mobile device, and mobile payments at a POS. On a scale of zero to 100, the MPRI average is 33.2. The 34 countries range from 22.4 to 45.6 (a narrow spectrum) and no one market has a monopoly on mobile payments adoption. The overall score given to each country takes into account six criteria, namely 'Mobile commerce clusters', 'Environment', 'Infrastructure', 'Consumer readiness', 'Financial services', and 'Regulation'. The index, whose headline is "It's early days for mobile payments, but we are making significant progress," allows anybody with a browser to get in-depth information on individual markets, compare countries, and obtain a snapshot of where the industry stands regarding mobile payments.
