Mobile payments – where purchases can be made through a smartphone or tablet – are becoming much more popular, especially as 3G networks have become popular in the massive Chinese mobile marketplace.
Over the last year, the growth of the use of mobile phone payments has been explosive, and an even greater increase is on the cusp of occurring. Several telecommunication operators and banks in China have had representatives discuss the opportunity presented by mobile payments.
China Mobile president, Wang Jianzhou, has stated that the current cooperation of the company with third party payment organizations is currently operating very smoothly. Following this statement, the entire industry has been abuzz with curiosity over its potential.
The most recent iResearch study, which examined the number of global mobile payment users this year, has estimated that by the end of December, there will be about 141 customers paying for purchases through their smartphones or tablets. This represents an growth of 38.2 percent over last year’s numbers.
Furthermore, the size of the transaction volume is also expected to grow by over 76 percent, from last year’s $48.9 billion to $86.1 billion this year. These figures indicate that there is clearly a steady growth in the mobile payment marketplace worldwide. That suggests that people are becoming increasingly dependent on the use of mobile payment services.
There are currently 921 million mobile phone subscribers in China, and among them are 320 million people who subscribe to the internet for mobile devices. The Chinese industries and its government have both announced that they feel it is important to make significant efforts to build the industry for electronic payments such as those made with mobile devices.
