Intela study shows mobile commerce is seeing strong acceptance among consumers

Consumers in the United Kingdom are becoming more comfortable with the prospect of purchasing goods with their mobile devices, according to new research from Intela, a leading performance marketing firm. The UK is one of the most auspicious markets for mobile commerce in the world, with many telecommunications companies and financial services firms working to engage mobile consumers in more dynamic ways. Retailers throughout the country have been embracing mobile payments, adding momentum to the growth of mobile commerce and helping make consumers more comfortable with participating in mobile commerce.

More than 50% of UK mobile consumers eager to make mobile payments

According to Intela, more than half of the UK’s mobile consumers are now comfortable with making mobile payments of $15 or more. The firm notes that the initial growth that mobile commerce had seen in the UK was due to the “iTunes effect,” the trend that saw consumers purchasing music and applications through their mobile devices. This trend helped consumers understand how mobile payments worked, and now these people are beginning to make purchases through platforms outside of iTunes as their options become more varied.

Investments in mobile commerce are growing

Intela notes that investments in mobile commerce coming from UK businesses rose significantly in 2012. Many of the businesses adopting mobile commerce have adopted a strong focus on educating consumers on how to participate in mobile payments. The firm notes that these efforts have paid off very well, with approximately 40% of UK consumers claiming they have a better understanding of how mobile commerce platforms work. Moreover, these consumers are very likely to make mobile purchases in the future for products they are interested in.

US consumers also show comfort with mobile payments

Intela’s study is not focused solely on the United Kingdom. The firm found that U.S. consumers are also growing more comfortable with the concept of mobile commerce. According to Intela, 56% of U.S. consumers are happy to spend more than $10 on mobile purchases. Nearly one in two of these consumers are very comfortable with mobile commerce platforms and how these platforms operate.

A team in South Dakota have created invisible printing for security barcodes.

Stanley May, a professor at the University of South Dakota, and a team that includes Jon Kellar, from that institution’s School of Mines and Technology, have combined the use of an invisible ink and a special printing process in order to make invisible QR codes that can be used to identify counterfeit goods.

The barcodes can be seen only when they are viewed under an infrared light.

The research team from the college found a way to add QR codes that cannot be seen by the unassisted eye, to various types of surfaces including paper. This suggests that they could be added to items that are commonly forged, such as official documents, paper currency, and even designer products.

These QR codes could make it much more challenging for counterfeits to be convincingly made.

May and his team have been working over the last few years to create a clear ink solvent, and have now applied nano-particle technology to this accomplishment in order to create the ink that can be seen only when displayed under infrared. The most recent effort involved using this ink in a way that would make it printable. This included the involvement of William Cross, in addition to Kellar.

Through the use of a special aerosol lab printer, the research team was able to apply invisible, basic shapes and letters to various surfaces. The idea to print QR codes came from Jeevan Meruga, a graduate student who had been working with Kellar. He thought up the concept and successfully tested it with the printer before presenting it to Kellar, who said that he wasn’t sure what it was at first. However, he explained that “I quickly figured out what it was and how important this could be.”

The team is now working to perfect the printing of the invisible QR codes so that they can be used in anti-counterfeiting operations. It has been suggested that it could be applied to items such as currency, or identification such as passports or drivers licenses. This would make forgeries much harder to accomplish.