Mobile payments transactions projected at $670 billion by 2015

A new study published by Juniper Research has projected the value of near-field communications (NFC) purchases, mobile-sourced money transfers, and mobile payments for digital and physical goods at $670 billion by 2015. This would come as a substantial jump over the $240 billion, Juniper Research has pegged for the total value of mobile payments this year.

 According to the research firm, during the next 18 months, 20 countries would start deployment of NFC payment systems and services and transactions from those services would be in the range of $50 billion by 2014. 

In one of the more recent developments in the field, Google announced its Google Wallet and Google Deals services in the US, and the search giant had large retail partners on board, which include Citi, Subway, Mastercard, Sprint, Macys, and Walgreens. 

The report further adds that the Far East and China, Western Europe, and North America were the largest mobile payment regions, and those areas ''will represent 75 per cent of the global mobile payment gross transaction value by 2015.

The report says that all segments would exhibit 2x to 3x growth over the next five years and the growth would be driven by the rapid adoption of mobile ticketing, NFC contactless payments, physical goods purchases and money transfers as people in both developed and developing countries use their devices for everyday transactions.

Around 20 countries are expected to launch NFC services in the next 18 months, resulting in transactions approaching $50 billion worldwide by 2014 even as the need for financial access in developing countries would see active mobile money users double in numbers by 2013 and driving transaction values accordingly.
 
According to senior analyst David Snow, the company's analysis showed that emerging segments such as physical goods payments, NFC and money transfers would fuel market growth by a factor of 2.7 times by 2015. He added that digital goods was the largest segment and, although forecast to more than double, it is not growing as quickly as some of the newer segments.

The report also projects that:

• The top 3 regions for mobile payments (Far East & China, W. Europe and N America) would represent 75 per cent of the global mobile payment gross transaction value by 2015.
• Digital goods payments would account for nearly 40 per cent of the market in 2015.