As what may be a preview of the bright future of mobile commerce in general, the latest study of Juniper Research shows that about 52 million people will adopt mobile payment methods like NFC (Near Field Communication) and RFID to pay for everyday goods and services by 2011 and drive the physical mobile payments market to reach $11.5 billion.



Moreover, Juniper found that by 2011, around 12% of the total mobile phones in circulation will offer support for contactless payment, specifically NFC - equating to nearly 470 million NFC-enabled handsets worldwide, thereby providing a significant marketplace for retailers to offer goods via mPayment applications.

Impact on Mobile Phone Selection

As we, mobile consumers, slowly welcome mobile commerce as part of our daily lives, it is logical that our criteria for selecting mobile phones will dramatically change as well. Jake Saunders, Vice President of ABI Research Asia-Pacific, says that the "Flash Factor" or the look and feel of a particular cellular phone is the current key motivator for purchase.

The growing number of mobile applications and the rising role of mobile commerce in the near future will create a shift in buying motivation. The look and feel will always be there but we will be more concerned with the capability of a particular handset to support our preferred mobile apps.

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