NFC technology will enable transactions worth US$74 billion by 2015 as the short-range wireless technology is taken up for the purchase of goods in shops as well as for buying tickets on public transport, according to a new study by Juniper Research. The 2015 figure would represent a tripling in value of NFC-based transactions since 2011.The study breaks down m-commerce into a number of distinct segments of which NFC is one.  The study says four segments (NFC, money transfer, physical goods and coupons) will each more than triple in transaction value over the next three years. Three other segments (digital goods, banking and tickets) will on average double over the same period, it says.

However the report stresses that the mobile industry needs to keep on top of user concerns over security even if their worries are perceived rather than actual. If security issues are not kept in mind then the m-commerce market “may be set back until user trust is recovered,” Juniper says.

Other findings in the study include that SMS is central to the adoption of mobile banking.  Also the study says interoperability is critical to the take-up of mobile money transfer services. Finally while mobile coupons are the smallest segment in the study, they are showing the highest growth rate.