Global mobile payment transactions rise 61.9% YoY

Global mobile payment transaction values will exceed $171.5 billion this year, a 61.9% increase from 2011.

The number of mobile payment users will also rise this year. An additional 50 million people will use mobile payments in 2012 bringing to total to 212.2 million.

Gartner are forecasting a market worth $617 billion by 2016, with 448 million users.

However, near-field communication transaction volumes are forecast to remain relatively low through 2015, although growth is expected to pick up from 2016.

For the meantime, ticketing, rather than retail payments, will drive NFC transactions, according to Gartner's "Forecast: Mobile Payment, Worldwide, 2009-2016" report. That's because NFC payment requires, not only a change in user behavior, but collaboration between stakeholders including banks, card networks, merchants and mobile carriers.

PayPal has been busy ramping up its offline presence. As well as rolling out their payment solution to all 2,000 Home Depot's stores, another 15 brick-and-mortar retailers have agreed to use PayPal's offline payment solution.

Tags: forecast, mobile marketing, mobile payments, near-field communication, online payment