UK consumers reject mobile payments

Security is a major hindrance, says study

Written by Angelica Mari

Computing, 23 May 2008

The majority of UK consumers are not interested in using their mobile handsets for e-commerce due to security concerns, according to researchers.

About 80 per cent of the 978 UK users polled by International Communications Research do not intend to use their phones to carry out online transactions such as payments or shopping.

The main reason behind the hesitation in using m-payments is security. Out of those surveyed, 32 per cent believe mobile transactions are not very secure, about 24 per cent reckon the method is not secure at all and about 23 per cent think mobiles are somewhat secure." Just five per cent for the respondents believe mobile transactions are very secure.

But confidence in traditional online payment processes seems to be improving. Some 32 per cent of those surveyed are not worried at all about security of traditional online transactions. By comparison, 33 per cent of the consumers polled are extremely or very concerned with the security issues linked to traditional online payments, a 39 per cent decrease from last August.

When it comes to the most trusted service provider, more than half of the consumers (52 per cent) believe that banks provide the most secure channel for mobile payments, followed by retailers (seven per cent). But 15 per cent of those polled felt no business can provide good enough security.

The research was commissioned by Unisys.