Study Sees Foundation for Widespread Mobile Payment Adoption

A mobile banking study by financial services consultancy Mercatus shows that, based on current adoption trends, 15 percent of adult U.S. consumers under 30 will be using mobile payments within five years—and growing close to half of those between18-35 within a decade.

Mercatus bases that bullish estimate also on the fact that U.S. banks have raised more than $300 million in investments for mobile payments, according to Bob Hedges, Mercatus’ managing partner.  “These investments have been made based on the belief that mobile payments represent a compelling value proposition to consumers. We now have empirical evidence that consumer demand and interest in mobile payments is real and worth pursuing,” says Hedges, in a news release.

Although usage is still low, the awareness factor for the m-payment awareness is already at 50 percent, according to Mercatus. The study points out (big surprise) that the youth market is a “significant determinant” of interest and use for mobile payments, with SMS-based text payments the most prevalent.

What may be of most interest to institutions are the findings that tomorrow’s mobile payment users appear willing to fork over the money to upgrade phones (44 percent), set up separate accounts for mobile funding (38 percent) and even change their carrier (22 percent). Surprisingly, though, only 14 percent were willing to change their primary bank to conduct mobile payments.

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