Less than 10% of US consumers willing to pay for mobile payments

By Sarah Clark • nfcworld.com • 18 February 2011, 10:08

Less than one in 10 consumers in the US are prepared to pay for mobile payment and banking services, despite a surge in use in the past year.

Research from the Yankee Group has found mobile transaction volumes are expected to grow at a very high rate, with the estimated total value of global mobile transactions rising from US$162 billion in 2010 to US$984 billion in 2014.

However, the group's consumer survey results also indicate that less than 10% of respondents would be willing to pay extra for mobile transaction services such as mobile banking, mobile coupons and mobile payments.

"Every silver lining comes with a big, fat cloud, and the much-hyped and even more anticipated mobile transactions explosion is much the same," the report said, adding that in the US:

• Mobile banking: The number of survey participants who indicate they used mobile banking in the last three months increased from 19% of the base in 2009 to 31% of the base in 2010.
• Mobile couponing: The number of survey participants who indicate they use mobile couponing services more than doubled, from 5% of the base in 2009 to 11% of the base in 2010.
• Mobile commerce: The number of respondents who say they participate in mobile commerce grew from 8% of the base in 2009 to 16% of the base in 2010.

The research findings are different to those of a study in 2010 conducted by telecoms technology supplier Alcatel-Lucent with members of its Youth Lab, a group of teenagers and young adults from ten countries around the world, which found that 89% per cent of the participants would be willing to pay a monthly fee to get a mobile wallet service.

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