Contactless Mobile Pay Transactions Seen Nearing 10B by 2016

Although the contactless or proximity mobile payments market is still in its infancy, research firm NPD In-Stat is projecting that by 2016, the number of payments made with a swipe of a mobile device will approach 9.9 billion.

This is nearly a ten-fold increase from the estimated 1.1 billion in contactless mobile payments expected to be transacted in 2012.

"2011 was a significant year in clarifying the future direction of market development," said Amy Cravens, senior analyst, in a press release. "Based on the vast support for near-field communication and the endorsements made by significant players in 2011, it is apparent that this will be the dominant contactless payment solution going forward. However, there continues to be a great deal of support behind barcode-based payments as well (mFoundry and Starbucks, PayPal, and Home Depot), indicating that these types of solutions will continue to be supported in the coming years."

In-Stat expects the Asia Pacific region will dominate proximity mobile payments throughout the forecast period, and represent 41% of the transactions in 2016.

Over half of the survey respondents are familiar with mobile payments, up from just one-third in 2011.

Remote mobile payments are expected to account for nearly $226 billion in mobile payments in 2012.