M-Commerce Forecast To Explode In Asia-Pacific

IDC, an American market research firm, predicts the drastic worldwide growth of mobile commerce transactions — led primarily by Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets — from the $500 billion expected in 2015 to $1 trillion by 2017 in a report this week.

The growth of the APAC markets is attributed to the maturation of mobile commerce and the limited state of debit or credit card adoption in the region.

The APAC region encompasses both developed markets like Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore as well as emerging economies like China, India and Indonesia.

IDC says this will lead to two separate solutions for mobile commerce in APAC.

In the more mature markets, proximity tech like Near Field Communication (NFC), which Apple Pay and Android Pay are developing for real-world purchases, will have to compete with debit and credit cards as a form of payment.

Those countries also have infrastructure that will complement faster penetration of NFC tech.

In the developing Asian markets — which account for most of APAC population — semi-closed wallets, operating much like pre-paid cell phones but connecting directly to one’s bank account, will be the driving force for mobile commerce.

Forecasters continue to see a dominant future for mobile in Asia-Pacific. For example, Cisco Systems predicts that there will be 650 million smartphones and 19 million tablets in India by 2019.

According to Wednesday’s APAC State of Mobile Advertising report from Opera Mediaworks, smartphone use in the Asia Pacific region continues to grow at a pace on par with the rest of the world, with page-view volume on mobile Web sites and apps approaching global averages.

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