MOBILE PAYMENTS MARKET 'SET TO DOUBLE' BY 2019 in UK

Comments "This is good news fool all of mobile payment enthusiast as we are. Other developed markets are likely to follow the same trend. We are only at the beginning of the payment revolution !"

Extract "Consumers are increasingly shunning traditional methods of payments as part of a move towards embracing mobile and online payment methods.

By 2019, 19.6% of all transactions made in the UK will be made by methods such as mobile payments, vouchers, coupons and PayPal, as opposed to 9.3% of transactions made today.

This rise will be accelerated by an increase in those of us who are 'unbanked' - without any financial ties to typical banks, estimatedat being around 1.54m in the UK alone in 2009, when the last such survey was undertaken. Paypoint will introduce a PayByPhone mobile app, scheduled for release later this year."

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Apple to use NFC in iPhone 6 with iWallet mobile payments system to compete with Google Wallet

Comment "Will Apple save NFC ? For sure NFC was a going towards a dead end unless Apple decides one day to integrate NFC chip in its iPhone. But is it enough to ensure success of NFC ? For sure Apple is not ready to share a big piece of the payment cake with the actor of the traditional ecosystem of NFC... So wait  and see"

Extract "A new report from Morgan Stanley supports previous reports that claim Apple will add NFC to the iPhone 6 to be used with its upcoming iWallet mobile payments system.

Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone smartphones have been released with a popular hardware feature Apple has left out of its smartphones for years. The company has been rumored for years to include the feature in its latest smartphone, but those rumors remain just that. Apple is reportedly getting ready to embrace NFC for the first time and the company will use it as part of its rumored iWallet mobile payments system."

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How Equity plans to take on Safaricom in mobile payments

Comment "Mobiles payments at merchant store seems a growing trend in many countries who have already deployed Mobile Money with success. Kenya is on the same line with Safaricom & Kopo Kopo and now Banks also try to enter this new game"

Extract "“If Equity can leverage its massive customer base to adopt this, an easy way would be to offer it free to all customers with incentives for adoption, it would, in the medium term, pose a serious threat to Safaricom,” says Wanyonyi. But, he says all this depends on how Equity rolls out its services, and how acceptable to merchants it is, as well as how many money transfer agents it can roll out quickly.

“Equity, though, is on the right path,” says Peter Wanyonyi, telecoms analyst.

Last month, Equity Bank announced that it would issue 300,000 smartphones to retailers to facilitate cashless transactions."

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