Twenty percent of all smartphone owners already used at least one mobile location service or mobile wallet in 2013, according to the Parks Associates study Transforming Commerce: Mobile Wallets and LBS.
More significantly, the study suggests that usage will increase to about 113 million, or 43% of all smartphone owners within three years.
The research shows that almost half of all holiday consumer electronics shoppers in 2013 expected to use their smartphones while shopping. Among them, more than a third (35%) planned to use their smartphones to look up product information, while almost a third (31%) planned to use mobile apps for shopping.
“We saw mobile apps and social media play an increasingly important role in holiday shopping, with almost one two holiday CE shoppers using their smartphones as part of the shopping process," said Jennifer Kent, senior analyst at Parks Associates. She said that more than a third (38%) of shoppers who planned to spend $1,000 or more were using mobile apps for holiday shopping.
From the article, "Mobile Wallets & Passing 100 Million Users" by Chuck Martin.