To reach $670bn driven by mobile ticketing, NFC contactless payments, physical goods purchases and money transfers

A new study from Juniper Research has found that the total value of mobile payments for digital and physical goods, money transfers and NFC (Near Field Communications) transactions will reach $670bn by 2015, up from $240bn this year.

The new Mobile Payment Strategies report revealed that all segments will grow two to three times their present value over the next five years.

The growth will be driven by the rapid adoption of mobile ticketing, NFC contactless payments, physical goods purchases and money transfers, said Juniper Research.

It is expected that people in both developed and developing countries would use their devices for everyday transactions in the future. Around 20 countries are expected to launch NFC services in the next 18 months. This in itself is expected to result in transactions approaching $50bn worldwide by 2014, said Juniper.

It added that the need for financial access in developing countries is such that active mobile money users will double by 2013.

The study also found that the top three regions for mobile payments (Far East & China, W. Europe and N. America) will represent 75% of the global mobile payment gross transaction value by 2015.

Digital goods payments are expected to account for nearly 40% of the market in 2015.

Senior analyst David Snow said analysis showed that emerging segments such as physical goods payments, NFC and money transfers will fuel market growth by a factor of 2.7 times by 2015.

Snow added, "Digital goods is the largest segment and, although forecast to more than double, it is not growing as quickly as some of the newer segments."