A significant change in mobile payments is expected in the next few years as a new research suggests that about 20% smartphones will have Near Field Communication (NFC) technology by 2014.
A report by communications research company Juniper Research says that the NFC technology which is used to make contactless payments with mobile phones will be adopted rapidly over the next three years with almost 300 million NFC capable smartphones by 2014.
The report says that the mobile network operators launching services in 20 early adopting countries before the end of 2012 will drive the growth in NFC.
However, the study also warns that adoption of the new technology may not be easy. It said that the involvement of many players such as banks, mobile operators and merchants, is a challenge in each NFC rollout.
"Juniper’s market analysis highlighted that, although there are still hurdles ahead, NFC prospects have been boosted by the succession of mobile operator and device vendor announcements," said report author Howard Wilcox.
Google, France Telecom Orange and Telefonica have all shown their interest in NFC.
The report said North America will be the biggest player in 2014 with almost half of all NFC smartphones. Europe will be the second largest market, predicted the report.
Wilcox said, "France is a case in point where operators expect to sell one million NFC devices this year."
