The growing awareness and use of contactless bank cards by UK consumers is not apparently resulting in increased interest in mobile NFC payments.
That’s according to results of a recent survey by UK-based polling organization YouGov. While awareness of NFC devices stood at more than one in three, or 35%, according to the survey, YouGov said awareness had “barely increased” from a similar survey in 2012. Only 9% of mobile and smartphone owners know their own devices are NFC-enabled. And, in turn, only about 22% of these respondents said they had ever used their devices to make payments.
There are few NFC services yet available in the UK, however. Besides a small project launched by Orange UK and Barclaycard in 2011, No. 1 mobile operator Everything Everywhere launched NFC payments with its own co-branded prepaid mobile card last summer. Vodafone UK is expected to launch next spring and Telefónica O2 will also likely introduce NFC services next year.
It's strange how the public see mobile phones which can be locked, switched off and even remotely tracked if they are lost or stolen to be less secure than an (always on) contactless card?
Also, my experience of using contactless payment is hampered by stores refusing me to use it. They all claim that payments under £5 cost them too much money to allow me to make a payment for anything less. my understanding was the charge was a percentage of the transaction but many stores claim there is a flat rate for each transaction too?