• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, June 27, 2018

Last week we looked at an impressive mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) forecast from Juniper Research.

But those estimates pale in comparison to those for the broader field of mobile contactless payments.

Worldwide, the number of mobile contactless users will exceed 760 million by 2020 -- up from an estimated 440 million in 2018, Juniper calculates.

Before the end of 2018 alone, contactless payment transactions are set to exceed $1 trillion, according to the research firm.

That encompasses every type of payment card, and mobile and wearable devices, which are increasingly becoming the norm around the world, according to research author Nitin Bhas.

Therefore, “The attendant payment infrastructure is also becoming well established,” Bhas notes in the new report. “Indeed, in markets such as Europe, contactless payments are becoming the preferred method of in-store payments.”

Around the world, contactless card payments are strongest in the Far East, China" and Europe -- accounting for 78% of global transaction volume in 2018, according to Juniper.

Among other subcategories, pay services -- including Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay -- will reach 450 million by 2020, per Juniper.

Other OEM Pay users -- including the likes of Huawei Pay, Xiaomi Pay, Fitbit Pay and Garmin Pay -- will exceed 20 million by 2020.

Meanwhile, while more than 200 banks deployed HCE-wallet services in 2017, the technology is expected to drive future growth in markets around the world.