The number of mobile phone users making payments for digital goods will reach 2.5 billion worldwide by 2015, up from 1.8bn forecast for 2011. This represents a growth of 40%, according to a new report by analyst firm Juniper Research.

Mobile tickets for transport and entertainment were found to be 2 of the key sectors influencing growth although new service and application adoption will also be very important.

Senior analyst David Snow gave more details: “Whilst the mobile payments sector offers substantial growth opportunities, it needs to be seen by innovative players as a platform from which to develop new value-added applications and services such as personalized mobile coupons, loyalty schemes, and novel augmented reality offerings.”

However, the Juniper report also warned that fraud levels with certain types of payments such as PSMS and direct billing are on the increase with mobile security becoming a key issue in the not too distant future.
• The Far East & China region will be the largest, accounting for nearly 30% of the total by 2015.
• The Indian Sub-Continent is forecast to exceed 400 million users by 2015.

The report uses an innovative new approach to compare the positioning of some 17 mobile payments vendors. These vendors are also profiled in the report, enabling the reader to identify and compare their strategies. In-depth market forecasts provide detailed 5-year regional data for mobile digital and physical goods payments, showing key parameters including subscriber take-up, transaction sizes and volumes. The report also reveals the strategies that are being used to enable users to pay by mobile through case studies from companies such as Virgin Media and Badoo.

The Mobile Payments Whitepaper and further details of the study Mobile Payments for Digital & Physical Goods: Analysis, Markets & Vendor Strategies 2011-2015 can be freely downloaded from www.juniperresearch.com.

Source: Juniper Research, www.juniperresearch.com

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