588 million using NFC payments and services by 2015

Research and Markets and ARChart predicts 588 million will be using NFC payments and services by 2015

Research and Markets have released their latest NFC study that looks at digital money and the convergence of contactless card and mobile payments. NFC is picking up pace and people are undoubtedly becoming more aware of the technology and certain aspects of how their lives can be impacted. Our last post indicated how ubiquitous NFC is becoming in the minds of the general public and how the benefits are finally starting to outweigh the security concerns. NFC, however, is still a nascent technology in terms of real world deployment, and which business models will finally prevail and where the gaps in the market still need some meta views of the current industry.

Companies like Research and Markets and ArChart endeavor to study, research and answer these NFC industry questions. At the end of the day, studies like these are educated best guesses because NFC doesn’t have the history required to make more accurate predictions. Earlier this year, research papers and studies were all over the board with figures that were polls apart, but gradually as researchers get a grip of this new industry, NFC study figures across the industry are beginning to settle and align.

Research and Markets NFC industry findings

The firm predicts that by the end of 2011 there will be 396 million contactless cards, which equals only 6% of all cards in circulation. Very few of these cards offer value-added services other than links to loyalty programs and schemes. A figure we have heard time and time again is that there is currently 5.1 billion mobile subscribers globally.

According to ArChart & Research and Markets that figure is set to sky rocket to 7.1 billion by the end of 2015, which is amazing when you consider there is only 6.94 billion people on the face of the earth at this time and that doesn’t even account for children, prisoners and a whole host of other groups that will not be active subscribers.

The two research houses believe that 2011 represents the year of reality for NFC when industry participants finally acknowledge the challenges that need to be overcome to fully commercialize NFC. The researchers also believe that internet companies such as Apple, Google, and Yahoo are best placed to take advantage of this technology.

Incumbent players in the telecoms market are at risk of being left out. This does not, however, take into account the mobile network operator joint ventures that are attempting to keep competing products out of their ecosystems, and nor does it account for the fact that Apple has stated to members of the press that it does not intend to support NFC in 2011. The report goes further to say that “incumbent players in the telecoms market are at risk of being left out.”

This report in its entirety examines the emergence of digital money from the perspective of the convergence of card-based proximity payments to the use of NFC-enabled mobile devices. Business models are identified which examine how companies can benefit from the deployment of NFC in mobile devices, generating opportunities beyond those associated with traditional transaction type activities, such as ticketing and retail. The report also recognizes that the scope to develop applications that enhance people’s lives in ways that go beyond payments is significant.

Companies used as business cases in the report include American Express, Apple, AT&T, Avea, Barclaycard, Bouygues Telecom, Caff Nero, Consult Hyperion, Directel, Garanti Bank, HP, Hypercom, KDDI, Korea Telecom, LG, London Underground, MasterCard, Motorola, Nokia, O2, Orange, PC World, RIM, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Starbucks, Telefonica, T-Mobile, VIVOtech and Vodafone.

It’s always great to see new NFC reports and studies come to market. If you are interested in getting hold of the NFC  full “Digital Money: The convergence of contactless card and mobile payments” report, hit up one of the links in our sources below.