In-Store NFC Mobile Payments Top Deloitte’s 2015 Canadian Tech Predictions

Deloitte has released their 2015 Canadian Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions report and the top trend for this year according to the firm will be the rise of in-store NFC smartphone payments.

According to statistics, of the 600 million NFC-enabled smartphones worldwide, roughly 5 percent will be used to make a monthly in-store mobile payment, an increase of over 1,000 percent compared to 2014.

Duncan Stewart, Director of TMT Research at Deloitte in Canada, had the following to say:

“Canadian smartphones are already being used to check balances, transfer funds and transact online, which indicates that consumers are comfortable with using their phones to handle money. But almost no one used their phones for contactless in-store payments at the register,”

“2015 will be the first year in which all of the requirements for mainstream mobile payments – satisfying financial institutions, merchants, consumers and device vendors – have been sufficiently addressed.”

Although mobile smartphone payments top the predictions this year, only 1 in 20 smartphone owners will be ‘tapping’ by year’s end, according to their report.

Deloitte also predicts close to 5 million smartphones upgrades will happen in Canada this year, driven by “pride, pixel count, durability and storage needs.” Worldwide, it is expected over 1 billion smartphone purchases will be upgrades (out of 1.4 billion smartphones sold).

The firm notes in the past five years, its TMT predictions have been more than 79% accurate.

A rumour last week pegged Apple Pay to be launching in Canada as early as March, as sources say Canadian launch partners are gearing up promotional materials for the spring debut. A large majority of Canada’s retailers already support point-of-sale terminals that accept NFC payments, which would make an Apple Pay launch here pretty seamless.