Worldwide Mobile Payments Will Surpass $171 Billion This Year

Sites include gartner.com , SquareUp.com . Published on June 12th, 2012. Written by Anthony West.

Gartner does a fair amount of number crunching so when analysts say something with a Gartner tag on it, believe is almost guaranteed.

Gartner recently gave some insight into the worldwide growth of mobile payments and by all accounts things are moving along at a rapid pace. All told, mobile payments are expected to shoot pass the $171 billion mark for 2012 and the prospect for future growth seems almost limitless. The projected growth figures for this year represent a 61.9% growth on 2011 figures and many are excited about the pace at which consumers are embracing mobile payments technology.

According to analysts Sandy Chen, research director at the firm, “We expect global mobile transaction volume and value to average 42% annual growth between 2011 and 2016, and we are forecasting a market worth $617 billion with 448 million users by 2016. This will bring opportunities for service and solution providers who will need to cater to the local demand patterns to customize their offerings.”

The only fly in the ointment so to speak is the fact that technologies rather than converge, seem to be diverging. The growth of NFC payments (think Square mobile app) is growing among smartphone users but it seems this won’t take root wholesale until at least 2015. In the meantime SMS mobile marketing and transaction processing seems a steady bet for at least the next few years.

Do you use your smartphone to do shopping and make payments? Share your thoughts on the emerging technology below.