Category: Mobile Payments

New report highlights the performance of mobile shopping in European countries

Mobile commerce is experiencing a promising period of success in Europe, according to a new report from yStats. The report shows that countries in Western Europe boast of high degrees of smartphone and tablet penetration, which is creating a favorable environment for mobile payments to thrive within. Mobile devices have become part of people’s lives in these countries and many are becoming more comfortable with the notion of mobile shopping. The report notes that Sweden and the United Kingdom are among the countries that have the highest mobile shopper penetration in the world.

Germany and Austria are seeing a great deal of mobile shopping activity

In Central Europe, Germany is currently considered the leader when it comes to mobile penetration. High degrees of smartphone and tablet ownership have lead to an increase in mobile commerce sales throughout the country. Mobile sales accounted for more than 10% of all online retail sales in 2013. Austria is experiencing similar success, with nearly one third of its online shoppers making a purchase from a mobile device.

UK currently leads the way when it comes to mobile commerce sales

The UK currently leads other Western European countries in terms of mobile retail activity and e-commerce sales. Sales from tablets are growing significantly faster than sales from smartphones in the United Kingdom. Tablets are becoming favorable because of their larger screens and somewhat higher processing power. These devices provide a more enjoyable shopping experience for some consumers, which is why they are beginning to see more mobile commerce activity than smartphones.

Europe may establish itself as a favorable market for mobile payments and shopping in the near future

Europe may soon become the premiere battleground for the mobile commerce industry. Currently, the Asian-Pacific is considered one of the most active and attractive markets when it comes to mobile payments and retail, but European brands are beginning to become more mobile-centric. As consumers become more comfortable with the idea of mobile shopping and payments, Europe is likely to continue finding success in the mobile commerce field.

As the number of cyber attacks over traditional computers, smartphones, and tablets grow, this is worrying.

Technology news reports are continually announcing the latest massive cyber attacks and data breaches, but this doesn’t seem to be having much of an impact on many people in the United Kingdom, as a new survey has shown that many are not taking mobile security all that seriously.

It would be expected that these headlines would cause the average users to take protective measures.

However, this does not appear to be the case. The survey was conducted on behalf of ZenMate by OnePoll. It involved the participation of 2,000 respondents from the United Kingdom. What it determined was that there is an overall apathy present among smartphone users when it comes to their own mobile security. Fewer than half of the people who were surveyed said that they take any action to ensure that they are using protected connections or that they secure their browsing data when using their smartphones.

Over 45 percent said that they didn’t even take the basic mobile security step to use a password to lock their devices.

Without even using a smartphone password to lock the device, if that gadget is ever stolen, the thief would be able to gain instant access to any apps, contacts, or other personal data contained within the mobile device. This is quite surprising, when taking into consideration all of the attention that is being received by the prevalence of cyber attacks, overall.

Moreover, with reports that suggest that the GCHQ and the NSA have been monitoring online communications, it would be easy to assume that smartphone users would want to take a few extra steps to remain protected against data theft and other related threats. The results of this survey, however, clearly indicate otherwise when it comes to the typical British smartphone using consumer.

Only 41.5 percent of the survey participants said that they took precautionary mobile security measures, even when asked about their habits when using unsecured public networks. This aligns well with a recent Ofcom report that indicated that people don’t usually think twice about their privacy when they access public WiFi connections.