yStats.com, Germany-based secondary market research publisher, released a new report about the development of mobile payments worldwide. The publication, titled “Global Mobile Payment Methods: Second Half 2015” highlights the market trends, developments, statistics and player news from the last six months in 2015. According to yStats.com’s CEO and founder, Yücel Yelken, mobile payments develop unevenly across the regions, but their global volume is predicted to continue to increase at triple-digit rates in the next few years.
Mobile payments are evolving in multiple forms across the world, including payments for purchases made over mobile devices, in-store mobile payments and peer-to-peer mobile transfers. The general trend across these categories is their continuing growth, reaching triple-digit figures on the global level. While data privacy and security remain the primary concerns of consumers when it comes to the adoption of innovative payment types, as yStats.com’s new report shows, factors such as convenience and special promotions are among the main drivers for wider mobile payments penetration.
Asia-Pacific is projected to lead global mobile payments growth, driven by various new initiatives and rapid growth of mobile commerce across the region, according to the findings of yStats.com. For example, in China, nearly 50% of all mobile Internet users already take advantage of the mobile payment offerings, and in South Korea an emerging trend is making mobile payments through popular instant mobile messengers. Also in Africa, where access to banking services is limited, mobile payments are on the rise, led by Kenya.
The advanced regions of Europe and North America are no exception to the growing mobile payments penetration, yStats.com reports. In countries such as the UK and France, contactless mobile payments are gaining ground, while in the USA peer-to-peer mobile payments are predicted to be used by almost half of all mobile device owners through 2018. Moreover, in Germany peer-to-peer payment was the most known type of mobile payments in 2015.
Competition in global mobile payments remains intense, yStats.com reveals. Last year, Google re-formatted its Google Wallet into a peer-to-peer payment app, while also launching its Android Pay mobile payments solution. At the same time, Samsung Pay went live in the USA following its initial launch in South Korea. Further, Apple Pay is attempting to challenge Alipay’s dominance in mobile payments in Asia, having cooperated with China UnionPay for the local launch expected in early 2016.
