ABI: Chinese NFC payments could top $8bn by 2014

By Sarah Clark • nfcworld.com • 8 August 2011, 11:54

More than US$8bn in transactions could be conducted in China using NFC phones by 2014, according to Mobile Payments in China, a new report by ABI Research.

In 2010, 45,000 NFC handsets were shipped in China, as well as 50,000 microSD format NFC add-ons and 2.5 million SIMpass SIM+antenna solutions, the report has found.

"China's mobile payments industry is burgeoning, attracting many participants wishing to grab first-mover advantage and vie for a bigger slice of the pie, says ABI. "Financial institutions (China UnionPay), third party mobile payment service providers, and mobile network operators (China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom) are all jostling for position."

"China is a big mobile payments market to play for. There were more than 868 million cellular subscribers as of the end of March 2011," explains Jake Saunders, VP for forecasting at ABI Research. "ABI Research believes the mobile payment market in China will largely adopt an MNO-led business model."

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