Asia-Pacific will lead world in mobile transactions by 2016: Gartner

In total, worldwide mobile payment transaction values will reach $235.4 billion in 2013, a 44 percent increase from 2012 values of $163.1 billion. The number of mobile payment users worldwide will reach 245.2 million in 2013, up from 200.8 million in 2012. Africa is currently the region with the highest transaction value.

"We expect global mobile transaction volume and value to average 35 percent annual growth between 2012 and 2017, and we are forecasting a market worth $721 billion with more than 450 million users by 2017," said Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner. 

Money transfers and merchandise purchases will account for about 71 per cent and 21 per cent of total transaction value in 2013, respectively, making them by far the largest use of mobile transactions.

However, worldwide, people are not purchasing as much because the buying experience on mobile devices has yet to be optimized. People are spending less via mobile devices than via online e-commerce services and at retail outlets. Merchandise purchases account for about 23 per cent of the total value forecast for 2017.

Bill payment value is expected to grow 44 per cent in 2013 and have consistent growth through the forecast period. This is due to higher value per transaction figures as more consumers in developed markets perform bill payments via mobile banking services along with consumers in emerging markets who are transacting at higher values than originally forecast. Bill payments will account for about 5 per cent of the total value forecast for 2017.

Near Field Communications' (NFC's) transaction values however have been reduced by more than 40 per cent throughout the forecast period due to disappointing adoption of the technology in all markets. Even Google Wallet is struggling to gain traction. Gartner forecasts that NFC will account for only about 2 per cent of total transaction value in 2013 and 5 per cent of the total transaction value in 2017, although growth is expected to increase somewhat from 2016 when the penetration of NFC mobile phones and contactless readers increases.