Mercator Advisory Group has launched a new report predicting the mobile payments market will soon become “war zone” fought over by mobile operators, handset manufacturers, payment industry heavyweights, and Silicon Valley giants. Caught in the middle will be merchants, who will have to choose which side they’re on - i.e., which of the many services to adopt.
The outcome will be determined by the pace of NFC roll out, lessons learned from in-depth pilot testing, and how quickly merchants will adopt new contact and contactless EMV terminals, according to Mercator.
“Fighting for Position: The Mobile Wallet Wars” examines the major players and their approaches to market, as well as explains the evolution of the mobile wallet and the direction it needs to take in order to be successful with consumers, merchants, and providers.
The 29-page report also offers methods retailers can use to leverage mobile apps, and purportedly contains the “one critical element” needed to ensure the success of a mobile wallet.
“As the interface where consumers meet payments, the mobile wallet will have strong influence over how consumers pay and interact with merchants. That’s why so many competitors are battling for position on smartphones,” states George Peabody, director of Mercator Advisory Group’s Emerging Technologies Advisory Service. “This will be a protracted contest with mobile operators controlling one key technology, payments incumbents leveraging consumer trust, Silicon Valley giants going after payments and incentives, and merchants searching for a safe path through the field.”
Companies covered in the report include: Visa, MasterCard, Google, Apple, Isis, Zenius, Jumio, ROAM Data, Apriva, NuWallet, Payfone, Incomm, SparkBase, PayPal, AMEX, IBM, NCR, Retalix, MICROS, Radiant, Starbucks, Discover, Square, MobilePayUSA, Chase, Narrate, MoBeam, and Amazon. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/nfcnews-4.gif)
