With mobile payments gaining acceptance in markets such as North America, Japan and some Western European countries, Gartner expects that half of consumers in mature markets will be using smartphones or wearables for mobile payments by 2018.Amanda Sabia, Gartner principal research analyst, noted that apps, mobile devices and mobile services innovation is “impacting traditional business models, particularly in the way people use personal technology for productivity and pleasure”.
“Product managers must understand who their customers are for these new devices and services, and how the products are being used,” Sabia commented. “Knowing your customer is imperative in order to capture a fair share of spending opportunities in this dynamic marketplace.”
Gartner expects that mobile payments using NFC technology, such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Pay, will in the short to mid-term be limited “due to a lack of partnerships between retailers and financial organisations, as well as consumers seeing little value in such payments”.
“Any mobile payment wallets that are tied to the device will have limited adoption and only if the device has a huge installed base,” Annette Jump, Gartner research director, stated. “Instead, cloud-based solutions will have a better chance to succeed as they can reach a wider audience and can support many use cases beyond face-to-face or in-store options.
“Also, mobile payment and mobile wallet adoption requires a country-by-country rollout plan with an enabled payment infrastructure and agreement with major banks and retailers.”
Gartner has additionally predicted that in mature markets 75 per cent of TV-style content will be watched through application-based services by 2018, with more households to begin to “cut the cord” entirely, putting additional pressure on traditional pay TV service providers.
By 2019, Gartner also expects that less than 20 per cent of users in mature markets will subscribe to mobile data-only connections.
“In markets where fixed broadband and Wi-Fi is widely available, and where CSPs’ [communications service providers] offerings are allowing tethering as part of their mobile offerings, the value-add of a stand-alone mobile data-only connection is harder to demonstrate,” Stephanie Baghdassarian, Gartner research director, commented.
“Also, when focusing on tablets specifically, it has to be noted that cellular-enabled tablets are noticeably more expensive than Wi-Fi-only versions. This is yet another inhibitor to mobile data-only connectivity uptake.”
