Why 96% Of Americans Are Nervous About Mobile Pay -- And Why They Shouldn't Be

For many American consumers mobile payments are still something to run away from--and fast.

That's what research from the University of California has turned up. A new study there implies that shoppers in the US aren't yet ready for the mobile payment movement. A large percentage of the American citizens questioned in a nationwide phone study called "Mobile Payments: Consumer Benefits and New Privacy Concerns" were found to "overwhelmingly oppose the revelation of contact information (phone number, email address and home address) to merchants when making purchases with mobile payment systems" and "an even higher level of opposition exists to systems that track consumers' movements through their mobile phones." The numbers are stark. When asked if they thought their phones should "share information with stores when they visit and browse without making a purchase," 96% objected to the tracking, 79% said they definitely would forbid it, and 17% said they "probably" wouldn't allow it--meaning just 4% were indifferent or positive about the idea. When the question was instead about information sharing (phone number, address, and so on) at the actual point of sale, 81% objected to phone-number sharing--a mere 15% said they'd probably allow it and 3% definitely so. Similar figures emerged when the information shared was respondents' home address. In terms of email addresses, survey respondents were more inclined to share, with 33% definitely or probably happy to share the transaction information. Still 51% said they definitely wouldn't share email addresses. And overall, 74% of respondents said they are "not at all likely" or "not too likely" to adopt mobile payment systems, while just 24% say they are likely to do so.