1 in 5 mobile handsets will have mobile wallet functionality by 2018, against less than 1 in 10 at the end of last year.
That’s the new projection from Juniper Research shared with MMW this week.
Juniper’s report – Mobile Wallets: Strategies for Developed and Developing Markets 2014-2019 – found that growth would be driven by two distinct wallet models.
In emerging/developing markets, SVAs (Stored Value Accounts) are increasingly enabling first time financial access for unbanked individuals, and the report anticipated a surge in deployments across sub-Saharan Africa, developing Asia and Latin America.
“Meanwhile,” Juniper says, “that wallet launches across North America and Western Europe are increasingly expected to feature contactless payment functionality. The sector is forecast to receive a boost both from the anticipated launch of an Apple iWallet later this year and through HCE (Host Card Emulation)-based NFC (Near Field Communications) services.”
The projections note that more than 1 in 3 mobile wallets – and over 50% of wallets in developed markets – will featuring contactless payment within four more years.
