In the U.S., the use of mobile device payment schemes are more often than not tied directly to smartphone technology. The article opens stating that roughly 70% of U.S. adults own smartphones, and that just under half of those adults have made any kind of payment with them. By my simple math, that comes out to 35% of U.S. adults have utilized mobile payments, not too shabby. Now, it comes as no surprise that the concentration of these users is primarily in the younger segments of the U.S. adult population, but even then it’s revealing that mobile payment adoption is making headway.
Mercator Advisory Group understands how the expected overnight adoption of digital currency by many has been disappointed, but recognition of the pace of adoption would be a better area for business leaders and policy makers alike to focus. What is at hand is a fundamental shift in how a person chooses to transact business in public. Each person will need to find their way at the pace they’re comfortable. By our back of envelope calculations, the rise of U.S. adults using mobile payments in one year was roughly 14 million individuals. Again, not too shabby.
Overview by Joseph Walent, Senior Analyst, Emerging Technologies at Mercator Advisory Group
Read the full story here