• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, April 30, 2015

Despite stumbles from various mobile payments providers, the activity of using mobile to pay for things online continues to rise around the world.

Online payments using mobile now account for more than a quarter (27%) of all online payments, according to a new index.

And the way money is moving is changing as well, with the $28 average transaction value of digital goods bought by tablet passing desktop purchases for the first time since 2013, according to the Adyen quarterly mobile payments index.

Adyen has been tracking mobile payment data from Web-based transactions across its customer base on a quarterly basis for several years, as we wrote about here last year (23% of Online Payments Globally Come via Mobile).

The index does not track in-app mobile payments, so a potentially significant data point is not included in the tracking data.

In the first quarter of this year, the U.S. market grew with 27% of payments online being made via mobile, up 5% from the previous six months.

Mobile payments in Europe were even higher, at 29%, with Asian markets hitting 20% for the first time.

By individual market, the United Kingdom continues to lead the pack, with 44% of online payments coming from mobile -- up from 37% a year earlier. In that market, smartphone payments dominate, accounting for 66% of mobile payments.

Consistent with other research, spending by smartphones over tablets increased.

Last year, smartphones accounted for 11% of online transactions, compared to 9% for tablets.

This year, smartphones account for 16% of online transactions with tablets at 12%.

By operating system, Apple rules at 65% of online mobile payments, although this is down from 70% last year.

Android payments accounted for 35% of payments, an increase from 30% from a year ago.

More people are getting more comfortable using their phones to buy things online.