Report: NFC payment terminal shipments doubled in 2011 to 2.5 million
07 June, 2012
category: NFC
Shipments of NFC-enabled point of sale (POS) terminals doubled to an estimated 2.5 million units worldwide during 2011, according to a new research report from Berg Insight.
Berg forecasts that the global installed base of NFC terminals will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 49.4% from 3.9 million units in 2011 to 43.4 million units in 2017. This corresponds to an increase in the penetration rate from 8% in 2011 to 53% in 2017. According to Berg, the penetration rate is projected to be highest in North America where an estimated 86% of the terminals will be NFC-ready by 2017, followed by Europe with 78% penetration and the rest of the world with 38%.
Berg attributes the growth in shipments to a transition in the NFC-payments ecosystem from trials and small pilots to the arrival of commercial NFC-based mobile wallet services.
“Mobile wallet services will create an unprecedented opportunity for retailers to interact with consumers in real-time while their purchasing decisions are being formed.” said Lars Kurkinen, Telecom Analyst at Berg Insight.
According to Kurkinen, the parking and vending markets are also seeing a growing share of transactions from mobile phones. SMS-based payments for vending are gaining particular momentum in some parts of Europe, primarily from Selecta’s roll out of SMS-payments to all of its public vending machines in Switzerland.
