A recent survey in the UK of more than 2,000 mobile phone users produced some worrying answers about consumer perceptions of NFC. The survey, which was commissioned by Opinion Matters on behalf of Gemalto, found less than one-third (32 percent) of consumers know what NFC stands for. And 34 percent said they would not use their mobile phone as a wallet due to security concerns while 31 percent did not know they could use their phones in this way. Furthermore, about one quarter (24 percent) of respondents did not trust NFC because they did not really understand it. Finally, 46 percent of those surveyed were concerned that thieves could run up huge bills at their expense if handsets were lost or stolen.

Sceptics might claim this is a one-off poll but in fairness it is not the first to have produced a similar result recently. One month ago research firm Intersperience, also quizzing UK users, found that just 17 percent are willing to use their mobile phone for payments in the future.  And 44 percent pointed to lack of security software as a particular concern. The firm’s findings chimed with Mobile Money Live’s own poll of our readers. We found a similar proportion of our respondents citing security as a major challenge that mobile payments have to overcome before cracking the mass market.

But look more closely at this latest survey. It says less than one third of users know what NFC stands for. Well is that so surprising given the technology is barely available as far as the mass market is concerned in the UK and many other markets globally? Even if NFC does become ubiquitous why should the non-specialist user care about an acronym? Even now I doubt  many people know what GSM stands for. And why should they? For the general public, as long as it works, the technology does not matter.

The Gemalto survey also found that about one third of respondents would not use their handsets as wallets for security reasons. At the risk of stating the obvious that would mean about two- thirds of users are happy to do it. Actually that sounds like quite an encouraging number given few users have any familiarity with NFC handsets to date. Likewise the figure of 44 percent who are concerned about the lack of security software as a concern. Again this seems to indicate more than half users are not expressing these concerns.  Gemalto says the poll results “show a clear need for further consumer education to dispel the myths surrounding mobile payments using NFC”.  Sure, that’s one way of doing it. Alternatively the mobile industry just needs to integrate NFC into as many affordably-priced handsets that they sell to as many consumers as possible. Widespread usage and familiarity is the quickest way to dispel myths among users. Then they won’t have to worry about learning any more acronyms either.

Richard Handford

The editorial views expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and will not necessarily reflect the views of the GSMA, its Members or Associate Members.