Number of mobile payment users to reach 141 million in 2011 globally

Mobile payment users are expected to surpass 141.1 million in 2011 globally, a 38.2 percent increase as compared to 2010, when mobile payment users reached 102.1 million, a recent study has revealed.

The report published by information technology research and advisory company Gartner has predicted that worldwide mobile payment volume is likely to total USD 86.1 billion, up 75.9 percent from 2010 volume of USD 48.9 billion.

Moreover, Gartner specialists expect Short Message Service (SMS) and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) to remain the dominant access technologies in developing markets due to the alleged constraints of mobile phones.

Furthermore, the report has predicted that Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is expected to remain the preferred mobile access technology in developed markets, where the mobile Internet is commonly available and activated on the phone. As a result, WAP is expected to account for almost 90 percent of all mobile transactions in North America and about 70 percent in Western Europe in 2011.

In addition, the study has forecast that money transfers and prepaid top-ups are expected to drive transaction volumes in developing markets, especially in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where these two services are expected to account for 54 percent and 32 percent of all transactions in 2011.

source: http://www.thepaypers.com/news/mobile-payments/number-of-mobile-payment-users-to-reach-141-million-in-2011-globally/744878-16