Less than a third of U.S. consumers have used their phones to make payments, compared to two thirds of consumers in China, according to a report published Monday by Aite Group and ACI Worldwide (ACIW).
As the world increasingly shifts more activity to mobile phones, the U.S. is a laggard even among its most avid users of smartphones. Aite surveyed 4,200 consumers in 14 countries during the first quarter of this year.
Based on their use of smartphones, extreme mobile users “aggressively change how they shop for products and services, how they interact with their banks and bank accounts, and how they pay for goods and services,” the report says.
India has the most avid users, with about 60% of smartphone owners identifying themselves as such. The U.S. only has 20%. (Across countries, nearly 70% of the most avid users tend to be in the 18 to 40-something bracket, so-called Gen X and Gen Yers.)
The impact on mobile banking is likely to be important, according to the report. Seventy percent of the most passionate smartphone owners have used their phones to make payments, and 80% have done so to conduct mobile banking, the report says. That compares to about a quarter of non-avid users who have made payments, and one third who have used phones for mobile banking worldwide.
In the U.S., over 80% of the most avid users have used smartphones to make payments and conduct mobile banking, compared to less than a quarter of the less avid who have done both.
