Where Will Mobile Payments Happen First?

There’s a lot of hype surrounding mobile payments, but the reality is mobile payments will catch on more quickly in some parts of the world than others. Mastercard is trying to figure out just where these spots are.

Mastercard unveiled a Mastercard Mobile Payments Readiness Index on Monday that analyzes 34 countries and their readiness to use three different types of mobile payments: person to person, mobile web commerce and mobile contactless payments at the point of sale.

The markets most ready to adopt the pay by phone solution are Singapore, Canada, United States, Kenya and South Korea, according to the index.

The index also found that young affluent consumers are a driving factor in mobile payment adoption in some markets.

Mastercard is among many financial companies trying to nudge a position in the mobile payment space at CTIA. Visa, Citi, and First Data are also at the conference giving their pitch on what the future of mobile payments will be.

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