Mobile Payments: 5 Things To Expect In 2015

2014 was a big year for mobile payments, with Apple finally making the move that the whole industry had been waiting for. The release of ApplePay means that, in the next year, millions of iPhone 6 owners will be making contactless payments, and other players in mobile payments will want to figure out how to take advantage of that.

Some barriers that have stifled mobile payments adoption will still remain, especially for in-store payments. We have yet to see a solution that really benefits everyone, and until that does happen, adoption will be capped, Barry O'Connell, partner at Capco, predicts.

"We won't see mass adoption in 2015. I think solutions need to take care of all of the parties -- the merchants, the consumers, payments networks, the banks," he said. "MCX hasn't shown why consumers would want to use it. Apple is the reverse. They offer a good customer experience, and got banks involved, but there's nothing exciting [in it] for the merchants."

[For more mobile payments coverage: What's Next for NFC Payments.]

Other challenges, such as NFC terminalization and consumer perceptions around security, also need to be dealt with. But even if mobile payments don’t take off at the point-of-sale in 2015, there is still opportunity for growth in online purchases made with mobile devices, Deborah Baxley, principal, Capgemini Worldwide, shares. "In-app purchases is the short-term future [for mobile payments]. The lines between in-app and e-commerce transactions -- those distinctions are going to start to blur."

So mass adoption at the point of sale will still be limited. But what else can we expect in mobile payments next year?

Read the rest of this article on Bank Systems & Technology.