People want mobile money despite the security risks

Accenture recently surveyed 1,100 people from 11 different countries that fit under the label of "tech-forwar". Thats someone who uses at least 4 web based services and owns at least 4 internet connected devices; even I do not fit in this category since I have only got 2 laptops and 1 smartphone. When it comes to which countries are the most enthusiastic about mobile payments Asia leads the pack with 69% saying they cannot wait to start using mobile commerce. The exact percentages per country are: China (76%), India (75%), Korea (56%) and Japan (47%). Does not Japan already have the best mobile payments infrastructure in the world? Anyway, outside of Asia the next country most excited about our cellphone wallet future is Brazil, with 70% saying they want it, now. Where does America and Europe sit? All the way on the bottom. If you combine their scores it still only reaches a 26% level of interest. One thing that sprang up across the globe was the risk of privacy breaches and identity theft: about 73% of all people surveyed said they are scared about the potential downsides that come from mobile payments.

Best part about this survey are the responses people gave as to who should be responsible for handling transactions: 59% said it would be done by existing credit card companies, 54% said wireless operators, 52% said software companies, 52% said large store chains and device makers are at the bottom with 48%. In other words, people want choice. If they want to pair up their device to their Visa, let them. If they’re rather use a service made by Apple or Google, fine. If they want to stop by their local grocery store and top up their account every once in a while, that’s good too. In much the same way we all carry multiple cards in our wallets, it looks like people want to adopt the same behavior on their mobile device.