Gartner has just released research that suggests that the adoption of the technology has held back growth in other areas.
Though money transfers have been booming over mobile, Gartner has just published the results of its latest research which have indicated that the adoption of NFC technology has been adequately poor that it is actually holding back the growth of smartphone based payments around the globe.
They have, however, predicted that mobile money transfers will continue their growth at least through 2017.
Though technology and banking giants had had very high hopes for tap-and-pay and contactless payments over smartphones, when all is said and done, NFC technology has proven to be nothing more than a disappointment over the last while and, according to the report, has hindered the growth of the overall mobile payments market worldwide. At the same time, the report also indicates that there are still some bright spots and there is still some potential for future use by consumers.
The Gartner report said that NFC technology tremendously held back the value of transactions over smartphones.
Gartner explained that due to NFC technology, the value of transactions completed via smartphone “has been reduced by more than 40 percent throughout the forecast period due to disappointing adoption of NFC technology in all markets in 2012 and the fact that some high-profile services, such as Google Wallet and Isis, are struggling to gain traction.”
The forecasts that Gartner is now making state that NFC technology will now make up only 2 percent of the total transaction value for mobile payments this year and that by 2017, it will represent only 5 percent of the total. It does see that there is the potential for faster growth in 2016 when there is greater penetration of enabled smartphones and contactless readers.
What does seem evident to the company’s analysts as well as to other observers in the industry is that the greatly hyped NFC technology will not be revolutionizing mobile payments as had once been the general belief. It has been facing far too many struggles on a great number of levels both from the side of the devices and the payment terminals to take off at any time in the very near future.
The SEQR service will be using near field communication tech according to the company’s announcement.
An SEQR mobile payments service company based in Stockholm, Seamless, has just announced that its product will now include the use of NFC technology for more transaction options.
The latest predictions from the company say that it will be implementing the contactless tech any day now.
The company has said that the solution is ready and that consumers should expect to start seeing the NFC technology in stores any time now. At the moment, it uses SEQR, which is a method that applies QR codes that are affixed to the terminals at the point of sale in a store. This allows smartphone users to scan the barcodes in order to be able to complete a purchase transaction.
As with the former version of the service, the company’s app is required to use the NFC technology.
In order to make payments using the NFC technology, smartphone users must have an enabled device in which they have downloaded the Seamless app. From there, they can choose to either scan the QR code or they can tap the device to the NFC stickers, which will produce the same results. This action automatically uses funds from the user’s account to pay for the purchase.
Though the QR codes should still be available, the new solution will allow NFC technology stickers to be used instead by devices that are capable of using them. According to the president and CEO of Seamless, Peter Fredell, “This will make us a completely technology-independent option for retailers and users.”
Fredell also pointed out that “It still costs the retailer nothing to introduce SEQR, and no expensive hardware or complicated installation is needed. With the Seamless NFC solution, we have also solved the big security problems that were previously associated with NFC technology.”
The company has stated that its new mobile payments solution has allowed it to become the leading smartphone transaction service in Sweden. It has already been adopted by McDonald’s restaurants as well as by the grocery retailer, Axfood group, which has allowed it to become widespread throughout Sweden. Now, it will be bringing NFC technology to each of these locations, as well.
