The proliferation of various types of mobile technology and the rising tide of smartphone usage are coming together to create greater acceptance of mobile credit card payment systems, and that may serve as a boon for many companies.
In an effort to capitalize on what's expected to become a very lucrative industry in the near future, a large number of businesses are working to develop smartphone applications that will work with various mobile credit card payment systems, according to a report from the San Francisco Chronicle. Companies ranging from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon to Visa, MasterCard and PayPal are working to create "digital wallet" payment platforms that will allow consumers to enter their credit or debit card information onto apps for their smartphones and use touch-to-pay technology to complete purchases, instead of swiping their credit card in traditional fashion.
Currently, though, there are very few smartphones on the market that are able to use these platforms, which rely on near-field communications technology. But it's expected that adoption may be somewhat slow at first, given that various polls show consumers are still hesitant to use these systems, the report said. The most common reason cited for this reticence is concern about the security, but experts say these systems should be more secure than traditional card use.
"You have to offer them a compelling reason to do it," David Mangini, an IBM executive focused on mobile payments, told the newspaper. "At a very, very minimum ... it has to be just as convenient, just as broadly accepted and just as safe."
Analysts predict the mobile payment industry could be worth as much as $44 billion annually by the end of 2015.
