“This is the year mobile payments will take off… Really!” Really? We hear this pitch every year, but we have yet to see actual take up reach the levels forecasted for the last five to ten years.
Maybe it’s time to evaluate the actual benefits of mobile payments to merchants and consumers, and which forces are driving adoption forward – and also those holding it back. This applies both to proximity payments and remote payments.
There are literally hundreds of European companies claiming to be in the mobile payments business (whatever they mean by mobile payments, another story.), but most evidence we've seen points in the direction of gradual evolution rather than an overnight revolution.
In the end it all boils down to actual benefits for consumers and merchants from adopting mobile solutions compared to their existing options. Mobile has to be cheaper, faster, easier, more accessible – and/or just as secure as a bank/card transaction. Ideally, mobile payments should give consumers something extra on top – like a discount, coupon or gift card. If not, what incentive do they really have to switch habits?
