The total value of mobile payments for digital and physical goods, money transfers and NFC transactions is set to skyrocket to $670 billion by 2015, according to a report published today by Juniper Research.
The new report reveals that all segments over the next five years will exhibit two to three times growth, which the research firm attributes to the rapid adoption of mobile ticketing, NFC contactless payments, physical goods purchases and money transfers as people in both developed and developing countries use their devices for everyday transactions.
Juniper noted that 20 countries are expected to launch NFC services in the next 18 months, resulting in transactions approaching $50 billion worldwide by 2014. Add to that the need for financial access in developing countries and the report forecasts active mobile money users will double by 2013.
"Our analysis shows that emerging segments such as physical goods payments, NFC and money transfers will fuel market growth by a factor of 2.7 times by 2015. Digital goods is the largest segment and, although forecast to more than double, it is not growing as quickly as some of the newer segments," said David Snow, senior analyst for Juniper Research, in a statement.
The company expects China, Western Europe and North America will represent 75 percent of the global mobile payment gross transaction value by 2015, with digital goods payments accounting for nearly 40 percent of the total market within the same timeframe.