NFC Retail Payments Market to Reach $180 Billion by 2017

The NFC retail payments market will exceed $180 billion globally by 2017, according to a new report from Juniper Research. That figure is seven times the amount expected from the NFC payments market in 2012.

According to Juniper, the regions of North America, Western Europe and Far East and China will contribute 90 percent of this market value as smartphones with NFC payment technology become standard.

The report also found that 2011 was a watershed year for NFC payments, with major technology infrastructure standards finalized and NFC payment pilots from both mobile operators and financial institutions launched. Above all, according to Juniper, NFC-enabled smartphone models were announced by almost all handset manufacturers and Google ignited the market by launching its wallet in the US.

The report warned, however, that the market acceleration of 2011 revealed some parts of the ecosystem unprepared for the future. In particular, retailers are less convinced of the benefits of NFC payments over existing card technologies and are unwilling to invest in contactless infrastructure so soon after the transition to EMV cards, said Juniper.

[See Also: Mobey Forum Makes A Case for NFC Payments]

Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio