LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE ASIA EXPO 2013: The industry will see an initial proliferation of wallets on phones but, following a shakeout period, that number will fall to two or maybe three, Shubhrendu Khoche, Asia-Pacific general manager at US mobile wallet vendor C-Sam, told Mobile World Live.

An initial surge in the number of wallets from handset makers, technology providers, mobile operators, financial institutions and retailers will be followed by “a few rounds of consolidation”, leaving probably two, or at most three, mobile wallets on every phone, according to Khoche.

“This initial split may be work/personal wallet or payment/everything else wallet, and gradually it will likely lead to having one favoured wallet in half of the countries and two to three wallets in the remaining half,” he said.

Khoche also noted regional variations in how mobile wallets have been offered by operators. Historically, Asian operators have favoured wallets for P2P money transfer and only now are moving to point-of-sale payments and mobile commerce.

Operators in Europe started on transactional services earlier than Asia, certainly in verticals like mass transport, with the exception of pioneers in Japan and Korea.

In terms of the consumer, the story tends to be a universal demand for simplicity, relevance and context.

“The preferred source of funds for commerce and payments may also be different, but the ability to make a payment in three clicks is also universal,” added Khoche.