It’s only a matter of time before paying with your mobile phone becomes a reality in the U.S., says James Anderson, MasterCard’s senior vice president of mobile and vice chairman of the NFC Forum.
In an interview with BGR, Anderson likened the current NFC payments situation to that of Internet-accessing smart phones in 2001:
“Back in 2001 futurists were talking about the coming power of mobile devices accessing the Internet, but the actual user experience was a long way from the vision. Now in 2011, with the launch of the iPhone and the rapid adoption of the Android Operating System, the dreams are turning into a an everyday reality and people are used to the idea of being able to do almost everything on their mobile devices. That creates a very healthy environment to introduce mobile payments, because there is a ready consumer appetite for doing more on the mobile device.”
Anderson went on to cite a recent survey from MasterCard finding that 63% of respondents between 18 and 34 years old were ready to make payments with their phones - as well as data from Juniper Research estimating $50 million in NFC payments by 2014.
When asked to identify the major factor inhibiting the adoption of mobile payments, Anderson pointed to a lack of NFC-enabled phones rather than concerns over security and ‘the dead battery issue.’ Anderson say this will change in the next couple of years with the addition of more NFC handsets from RIM and Samsung.
From the interview, it’s clear that MasterCard is all-in on NFC payments.
This includes a partnership with Google for what may be the biggest momentum shifter for NFC - Google Wallet.
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