A wider availability of smartphones combined with more contactless acceptance at merchant locations should generate some $71 billion in Near Field Communication-enabled mobile payments worldwide by 2015, new research suggests.
Research firm Informa UK Ltd. also predicts total NFC handset shipments to reach 630 million, up from some 44 million available in 2011.
“We expect a modest growth of the mobile NFC market for the next two years, but this will change as many of the leading players introduce NFC-enabled handsets, spurred to enter the market by fear of Apple’s and Google’s ambitions in the sector,” Guillermo Ecofet, Informa senior analyst, said in a press release.
Informa expects Google Andriod-powered smartphones to account for the largest number of NFC handset shipments. The company was not immediately available for additional comment.
Indeed, Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility Holdings in August will help it quickly advance it mobile wallet offering, observers believe (
Meanwhile, Apple Inc. will announce its next iPhone version Oct. 5, but Informa does not expect the device to contain an NFC chip.
“Apple is still waiting in the wings, leaving everyone guessing,” Escofet noted.
Loyalty, coupons and ticketing, among other various use cases, will help drive future NFC-handset growth, Informa says.
A speedy deployment of an NFC-enabled point-of-sale infrastructure also will play a role.
“Not all NFC handsets shipped will be actively used for NFC services, as this will depend on the number and range of merchants with NFC-enabled POS terminals,” Shailendra Pandey, a senior analyst with Informa, noted in the company blog post.
NFC use will be highest in markets where the point-of-sale infrastructure already is widespread, such as Japan and South Korea, or where companies will roll it out quickly in major urban areas in Western Europe and North America, Pandey wrote.
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