Mobile wallet use to hit 200 million by 2016

New research shows that Apple Pay is driving use of smartphones as contactless payment alternatives to traditional wallets.

According to a new white paper by Juniper Research published Monday, at the start of the year 100 million consumers globally were using mobile wallets that support contactless payment. Until now, the growth has been fueled by consumers in emerging markets that are using the technology as an alternative to traditional banking and as a means of making person-to-person (P2P) payments.

However, following the launch of Apple Pay in the US and now in the UK, the trend is set to cross over to consumers in mature markets. And with interest and awareness increased, and with Samsung Pay and Google Wallet also waiting in the wings, the research firm is forecasting a 100% growth in adoption rates over the next 12 months.