More reports show mobile payments on the rise

Businesses and consumers are adopting new payment methods at a rapid rate, making it imperative for companies that manage transactions to accept online or mobile payments. The industry has bolstered the spending power of large demographics, such as Millennials, and revolutionized the way in which alternative credit can be used. A recent story from eWEEK explained the results of a new report from IDC that showed mobile payments are now popular with more than a third of U.S. residents. The report, titled Business Strategy: Results from the 2012 Consumer Payment Survey, found that consumers are already changing the common purchases they make on their mobile devices. For example, the source notes that respondents to the IDC survey cited purchasing actual products with their phone more often than digital downloads or web-based services. The report also found that 73.5 percent of consumers are paying bills online, while the IDC suggested the rapid growth of these new methods might be due to a recovering economy. Last month, the CreditUnionTimes reported on a Javelin Research study that purported mobile banking will help decrease the number of underbanked citizens in the United States. According to the source, the underbanked represent about 15 percent of the population, and this demographic is decreasing steadily as a result of mobile and online payment adoption.