Report: M-commerce apps on the upswing

Improved network coverage, growing demand for feature phones and smartphones, and service availability are combining to increase consumer demand for mobile commerce applications according to a new study issued by market analysis firm IMS Research. The company forecasts that while the number of wireless subscribers will grow 32 percent over the next four years, the number of active mobile banking and payment service users will increase 662 percent over the same timeframe. Noting the growing number of application developers and platform providers now emphasizing m-commerce services, IMS says that mobile operators and banks are forming strong partnerships in regions like North America, Japan and South Korea--however, the m-commerce opportunity appears even more lucrative in areas where banking infrastructure is much more limited. Security nevertheless remains a concern, especially in more mature markets, where users will first experiment with low-risk services like monitoring account balances. Users in developing markets, with fewer conventional banking services at their disposal, will be much faster to embrace mobile alternatives.

For more on the IMS report:
- read this release

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