Global payment solutions company Adyen announced that according to data from its inaugural Adyen Global Mobile Payments Index in June, worldwide mobile payments transactions jumped 75 percent in just 10 months, increasing their share of all payments from 8.2 percent in June 2012 to more than 13.8 percent in April 2013. Europe leads in mobile payment adoption, with consumers making 15.3 percent of transactions using a mobile device, followed by Asia (12.4 percent) and North America (11.2 percent).

 

Handling a majority (53 percent) of mobile transactions worldwide, tablets have now supplanted phones as the top devices used to pay mobile transactions. North America lags in tablet use, however, performing 58 percent of mobile transactions with smartphones. The iPad is the most popular device among mobile payers, accounting for 6.6 percent of all transactions worldwide for the 10 months ending in April 2013, up from 3.6 percent in June 2012.

 

Mobile payment is penetrating sectors formerly dominated by desktop transactions, the index says. In travel, mobile penetration is at 20 percent—the highest of any sector. In retail, consumers use mobile devices for about 15 percent of purchases, thanks to a surge in so-called “sofa shopping.” Ticketing for concerts, movies, and other events is next, with just under 15 percent, neck-and-neck with purchases of digital content and gaming products.

 

“The report points to an overwhelming consumer appetite for transacting on mobile devices, and merchants have been listening,” says Roelant Prins, chief commerce officer of Amsterdam-based Adyen. “Adyen Mobile transactions now account for 14 percent of all transactions we process globally, and our analysis suggests that this will continue to rise.”