It’s basic human nature to fear or distrust that which isn’t known or well understood.
As a result, many consumers continue to exhibit a lack of faith or trust in near field communications technology – specifically, NFC payments.
YouGov’s “The Future of Mobile Digital and Contactless Payments” report indicates that 35% of UK adults are aware of NFC-enabled mobile devices, but fewer than one in ten (9%) mobile and smartphone owners know that their device is NFC-enabled.
Even worse, only 22% of these individuals ever use it to make payments.
“More than half of mobile phone owner that are not interested in NFC-enabled technology (56%) do not believe that the technology is safe to use,” YouGov reveals.
Underscoring the persistent mobile security concerns of our time, 53% fear “financial exposure” in the event that their phone is lost or stolen.
“Despite the advances in NFC mobile technology, the industry has yet to increase the awareness nor put forth a compelling value proposition to the consumer to adopt NFC payments,” says John Gilbert, Consulting Director of YouGov Technology & Telecoms. “In addition, retail adoption is rather limited curbing the consumers’ desire to transition.”
