The Mobile Wallet. Fiction or Reality?

Informa Telecoms predicts that the mobile wallet will account for US$860 billion in transactions worldwide by 2013. A twelve-fold increase in current levels. The value from the servicing of the mobile wallet will be worth $10 billion in four years time.

There has been talk of a mobile wallet for sometime, however uptake has been slow. Services from O2 and TfL's trailed Oyster card payments show that there is some interest, but far from a universal uptake.

The Mobile Payments & Banking report analysed four key areas of mobile transactions:
- Remote mobile payments
- Local (Near Field Communication) mobile payments
- Mobile banking
- Mobile money transfer (MMT)

Mobile payments are in particular becoming popular in Africa and Asia. The fact that mobile usage has now over-taken internet in many developing countries has also driven the uptake of mobile payments.

Whilst figures regarding mobile revenues can often be optimistic, there is no doubt that the importance of the mobile wallet is increasing. As it promises convenient point of payment, it is likely to drive an increase in mobile advertising and marketing.

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