New research forecasts predict unprecedented growth in mobile transactions worldwide, with the total value of global mobile transactions increasing from $162 billion in 2010 to $984 billion in 2014.

The research was conducted by Yankee Group, a Boston-based  technology research and consulting firm.

While the overall dollar figures are impressive, the firm’s consumer survey results also show that less than 10 percent of respondents would be willing to pay extra for mobile transaction services such as mobile banking, mobile coupons and mobile payments.

“Every silver lining comes with a big, dark cloud and the explosion in mobile transactions is much the same,” said Nick Holland, senior analyst at Yankee Group. “Although mobile transaction service usage is increasing phenomenally, consumers show little interest in paying any additional fees for them. If banks, mobile operators, card networks and retailers want to tap mobile transactions as a revenue stream, they’ll need to come up with more creative schemes than per-transaction fees.”

Yankee Group’s mobile transaction forecast tracks metrics on mobile banking, international and domestic remittances, contactless cards, mobile coupons and NFC communications. Other forecast findings include:

• Asia-Pacific overtakes EMEA as the mobile banking powerhouse: In 2010, EMEA leads all regions with 42 percent of worldwide active mobile banking users, followed by Asia-Pacific (38 percent), North America (16 percent) and Latin America (4 percent); but by 2014, Asia-Pacific leads with 54 percent, followed by EMEA (32 percent), North America (10 percent) and Latin America (4 percent).
• Mobile coupon usage explodes: The number of active mobile coupon users is expected to grow from 2.7 million in 2010 to nearly 35 million in 2014.
• Near field communications (NFC) takes off: The number of NFC-enabled phones will grow from just 834,000 in 2010 to 151 million in 2014, a CAGR of more than 300 percent. Similarly, the value of NFC-based transactions will explode from $27 million in 2010 to $40 billion in 2014.

The report is entitled:  “A View from the Trenches: What Consumers Think of Mobile Transactions.”

Source: Yankee Group.