Monday, July 10, 2017
"With high numbers of respondents bullish about its prospects and the number of projects being deployed increasing over the next year, it looks like AI will finally make the move from concept to reality," Gordon wrote.
Recent mobile payment surveys highlight mobile POS integration in the Internet of Things (IoT), powering a new generation of connected appliances with electronic payment capabilities. Mobile World Daily reported that 48.2 percent of visitors and exhibitors at the 2017 Mobile World Congress saw the IoT as the best business opportunity for mobile operators in 2017, followed by mobile payments (14.5 percent) and AI (14 percent).
Open Mobile Media and Mobile World Daily findings suggest intelligent appliances, like Samsung's Family Hub refrigerator with built-in Mastercard Groceries app, may soon coexist with, but will not replace popular mobile payment schemes. "While the concept of mobile has broadened to include the Internet of Things, augmented and virtual reality, and other sectors, companies in the survey still have sights firmly fixed on the mainstream channels of mobile apps, social networks and the mobile web," Gordon wrote.
The consensus among mobile experts surveyed is that mobile technologies have a vital role to play in the mobile payments ecosystem, despite their tendency to drift in and out of fashion. For example, wearables and virtual assistants have increased in importance, but only 29.8 percent of survey respondents are working on wearables, and 55.8 percent of respondents have no plans to develop solutions for wearables platforms, Open Mobile Media stated.
Survey participants listed the following top three challenges facing mobile product teams:
Despite improvements in mobile technology, analytics and access to first- and third-party data, mobile product teams have learned that having more data does not automatically produce more insight. Digital, customer relationship management and mobile transaction data continue to reside in silos in many organizations, making attribution techniques a work in progress, Open Mobile Media noted. Respondents also stressed the need for monetization strategies that go beyond in-app sales and click-to-buy.
In addition, growing device adoption is creating a proliferation of operating systems in the expanding mobile universe. This fragmented product landscape makes interoperability and standardization essential for companies and products to scale.
Regardless of these challenges, mobile payment stakeholders look ahead with optimism. "The most compelling data point of all may be the drop in the number of companies with a dedicated mobile marketing team," Gordon wrote. "We think this means that mobile has become mainstream. It's no longer seen as an experiment or a sideline but rather as a robust product, marketing and communications program and a central part of organizational strategy."
Editor's Note:
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