Security is attracting more attention from merchants engaging mobile consumers

Merchants are beginning to become more aware of the dangers that exist in the mobile and digital spaces, according to the results of the 2nd Annual Mobile Payments and Fraud Survey conducted by Kount, The Fraud Practice, and CardNotPresent.com. These dangers have existed for some time, but merchants have been blind to them as they rushed to enter into the mobile commerce space. While mobile commerce has become quite popular, it has also become quite a risky thing to participate in because of the lack of security that exists on many popular platforms.

Survey shows that many merchants are participating in mobile commerce, but few have adequate security in place

According to the survey, 66% of merchants around the world now support mobile commerce. Mobile commerce support among merchants is expected to rise by 30% annually over the next few years. Merchants are becoming more comfortable with the mobile space as they begin to expose themselves to consumers that primarily shop and purchase products from smartphones and tablets. These merchants are working to become more accommodating to these consumers in the hopes of remaining relevant with changing consumer behaviors.

Mobile commerce continues to be a risky field

The survey shows that nearly a third of merchants consider the mobile space to be more risky than e-commerce. Mobile commerce has become a popular target for hackers because of the trafficking of financial information. This information can be somewhat easily accessed by hackers because of the lackluster security that exists with most mobile commerce platforms. While this has become a major concern for merchants, it has also caused many consumers to avoid mobile shopping.

As security improves, consumers are likely to become more active in mobile commerce

As merchants become more conscious of the risks that exist in the mobile space, they are beginning to take security more seriously. This means introducing new features to popular mobile commerce platforms that merchants have designed themselves. More security is expected to increase consumer spending in the mobile field because they will feel more confident in the safety of their financial information.

This is the case, regardless of the fact that the more beloved devices are cost prohibitive in those regions.

According to a recent technology news report, the trend of people always wanting what they can’t have continues even in the mobile world, as research is showing that emerging markets still prefer iPhones over Samsung devices, despite the fact that they cannot afford them.

A recent study showed that Apple is the smartphone brand that is the most desirable among residents in emerging markets.

The research making this technology news was published in a report from Upstream based on a study conducted by the Ovum research firm. Within the study, which was conducted in 2014, it was revealed that Apple managed to edge out Samsung Electronics when it came to the appeal of their smartphone mobile devices. This was also interesting as another recent survey that was conducted by Upstream in 2013 showed that Samsung had been a solid leader.

Part of the explanation of this technology news was that Samsung saw a small drop in its favor among those consumers.

The brand’s appeal to consumers in the developing market fell from 32 percent to 29 percent between the last survey and the current one, said Upstream. While this isn’t a tremendous drop, when it is combined with the dramatic jump experienced by Apple in terms of its appeal in those regions, it made all the difference. Apple had previously been preferred only by 21 percent.

Some analysts are crediting Apple’s growth in appeal to the release of the iPhone 5C, which was designed specifically to be a lower cost device. This helped to make these mobile devices more accessible to consumers within emerging markets and allowed the brand to climb up to the front and center point in terms of draw within these marketplaces.

This technology news also suggests that the added marketing efforts that Apple has made in those countries in order to sell the iPhone 5C have had the desired impact. This, despite the fact that even that less expensive device remains too expensive for consumers in those countries.