How new payment platforms will transform personal finance
The rise of new payment platforms
After years of hype and speculation, contactless digital payment platforms from technology behemoths like Apple and Google are beginning to take off. If the experts are right, the days of paying with coins, bills and plastic cards could soon be behind us.
Also known as ‘mobile wallets’, this refers to apps that allow you to make purchases using your smartphone at point-of-sale (POS) terminals that accept contactless payments. According to data compiled by Statista, proximity mobile payment transactions could total US$190 billion in the US by 2021, with over 60 million users switching over before 2020. In Australia, the Deloitte Mobile Consumer survey reported a 25 per cent growth in mobile purchasing between 2016 and 2017. As of August 2017, there were 87 million Apple Pay users worldwide.