NFC Handsets Aid in Mobile Payment Growth, Heavy Reading Finds

NEW YORK, Sept. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Most smartphone manufacturers now have near-field communication (NFC)-enabled smartphones commercially available, making the technology the obvious choice for mobile payments and smartphone security, according to the latest report from Heavy Reading Insider (www.heavyreading.com/mobile-networks), a subscription research service from Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com).

NFC Smartphones Underscore Growth in Mobile Payments examines the NFC mobile payments market, analyzing the most lucrative verticals for NFC mobile payments providers and discussing drivers and challenges in the industry. It includes a comparative analysis of solutions available, examines the geographic landscape of the market and details trends that will likely occur in the industry over the next 18-24 months.

For a list of companies covered in this report, http://twimgs.com/audiencedevelopment/LRHR/PDFS/mni0913_companies.pdf

"As vendors and MNOs seek ways to make smartphones the ubiquitous choice for payments, personal data storage and other common functions, NFC-enabled smartphones are gaining more traction across the globe," says Denise Culver, research analyst with Heavy Reading Insider and author of the report. "It's estimated that about 90 percent of smartphone manufacturers now have NFC-enabled handsets commercially available, with most housing an embedded secure element solution."

As NFC continues to mature – probably within the next four to five years – the industry will move beyond simple card emulation, Culver says. "It's likely that mobile secure identity solutions will leverage the smartphone's on-board intelligence to complete most of the tasks now performed by access control systems," she continues. "This trend will further accelerate the growth of NFC-enabled handsets used for physical access control, for protecting people and property, as well as the logical access control for protecting data."

Key findings of NFC Smartphones Underscore Growth in Mobile Payments include the following:

• Although MNOs haven't yet fully embraced NFC, more than 285 million NFC-enabled mobile and electronic devices are expected to ship in 2013.
• NFC has strong vertical market opportunities for implementing mobile payments, especially in segments dependent upon customer convenience.
• For mobile NFC to succeed, manufacturers must make NFC-based technology a standard on mobile devices.
• The deployment of the EMV chip payments infrastructure will support new ways to pay in the U.S., including the framework to support mobile payments.
• The proliferation of competing initiatives in the NFC mobile payments market will eventually lead to market consolidation.

NFC Smartphones Underscore Growth in Mobile Payments is available as part of an annual single-user subscription (six issues) to Heavy Reading Mobile Networks Insider, priced at $1,595. Individual reports are available for $900 (single-user license).

To subscribe, or for more information, please visit: www.heavyreading.com/mobile-networks. For more information on all of Heavy Reading's Insider services, please visit www.heavyreading.com/research.

To request a free executive summary of the report, or for details on multi-user licensing options, please contact:

David Williams
Global Director of Sales, Research
Heavy Reading
858-829-8612
david.williams@ubm.com

Press/analyst contact:
Jennifer Baker
Marketing Director, Light Reading Communications Network
617-747-4110
jennifer.baker@ubm.com

About Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com)
Heavy Reading is an independent research organization offering deep analysis of emerging telecom trends to network operators, technology suppliers, and investors. Its product portfolio includes in-depth reports that address critical next-generation technology and service issues, market trackers that focus on the telecom industry's most critical technology sectors, exclusive worldwide surveys of network operator decision-makers that identify future purchasing and deployment plans, and a rich array of custom and consulting services that give clients the market intelligence needed to compete successfully in the global telecom industry. As a division of UBM Tech (tech.ubm.com), Heavy Reading contributes to the only integrated business information platform serving the global communications industry.

SOURCE Heavy Reading