Visa, PayPal Top Mobile Wallet Report

Visa and PayPal are consumers' most valued mobile wallet providers, according to a new report from Javelin Strategy & Research.

According to Javelin, PayPal and Visa garnered 15 and 13 percent of the vote of consumers surveyed on their preferred mobile wallet provider. Mobile network operators Verizon and AT&T -- who are part of the Isis NFC-based wallet venture along with T-Mobile-- and Apple were close behind, according to the report.

According to Javelin, consumers consider three important factors---trust, innovation, and privacy -- when determining what is a "trusted" mobile wallet provider. The report found that Visa and PapyPal scored highly in all three of those factors.

"Consumers have spoken, and the primary bank relationship and the payment networks, such as Visa and PayPal will be a key part of any widespread mobile wallet," said Jim Van Dyke, President and Founder of Javelin, in a statement.

Sixty percent of mobile bankers who were surveyed indicated that they are likely to adopt a mobile wallet in the next 12 months. However, mobile wallet providers will also have to determine which mobile point-of-sale technology -- NFC, cloud, or bar code -- to use, said Javelin. In the near-term, the research firm predicts that bar codes and cloud-based wallets will proliferate, since they do not require mobile phone upgrades or merchant investments in terminals and systems. With Apple's iPhone 5 coming soon and other new devices following the iPhone, Javelin expects that NFC chip technology will eventually prevail as it offers the convenience of paying with a simple tap or wave of the phone.

[See Also: Winning the Mobile Wallet Race]

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