Mobile commerce continues its ambitious, albeit sluggish, growth around the world. With an ever increasing number of NFC-enabled smart phones emerging into the commercial market, mobile commerce is quickly recombining inevitability. While the day may be coming when all transactions are made using a smart phone, such a day may still be far into the future. Mobile commerce is facing major security concerns regarding how safe a person’s financial information really is when it is stored on mobile devices that are easily stolen or hacked.
In the UK, the security concerns are palpable. A new study from Intersperience, a research and consulting firm, found that 24% of UK adults considered paying for goods with a phone “unsecure.” Another 44% say that the lack of security software for smart phones will stop them from picking up mobile wallets – payment platforms for mobile phones. The study found that consumers are quite mindful of the potential risks associated with keeping their sensitive financial information on a device that has little to no protection.
There seems to be little faith put into the claims from companies like Google and Nokia that NFC-enabled smart phones will have extensive security measures. Mobile commerce is still an untested field whose landscape may hold many unforeseeable risks for consumers. Companies claiming to have accounted for these risks have little to no data to back up their claims.
The study shows that English consumers are far more likely to continue purchasing goods from the computers, at least until their concerns can be placated.
