Developing Telecoms | ABI: mobile person-to-person payments better in new markets (perhaps)

9 February 2012

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ABI: mobile person-to-person payments better in new markets (perhaps)

Monday, 01 March 2010 00:00

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ABI Research has conducted a survey on using mobile phones for person-to-person payments. Interest was low in the seven countries surveyed. Interest in the developing markets was greater - but ABI did not ask anyone in those countries. Michael Schwartz reproaches.

Good Prospect for Developing but Not Developed Markets: Survey Finding

Payments by mobile technology are fast becoming established in the new telecoms markets. By contrast, a consumer survey conducted by ABI Research in November 2009 in seven countries found consistently low levels of interest in making Person-to-Person (P2P) payments by mobile. About 200 respondents participated in Germany, France, the UK, the US, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.

What surprises Developing Telecoms is that not a single emerging market was selected. For all the successes of China and India, or the problems confronting people in developing markets who receive payments from the developed world, no opinion was sought from these growing (and lucrative) markets.

Overall, Western Europeans who regard P2P as very or extremely important totaled 16%. Lower still was the percentage of like-minded US citizens (9%) while the Asian respondents notched up 34%. If these markets were diverse in their opinion of P2P, then surely the same could have been asked of the newer countries?

A real opportunity has been missed here. Aren’t the developing markets as diverse and varied as their older counterparts?

What clouds the situation is the statement by an ABI senior analyst Mark Beccue, “In parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America which generally lack good tools for convenient P2P transactions other than face-to-face, mobile payment methods will be huge.” In other words, there is a statement about the likely success of P2P in new markets - but there is no research to back it up. Nor is there any indication of how different age-groups, genders, or economic and political environments could influence P2P’s fortunes.

An opportunity lost.

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