As Google gears up to launch its digital wallet service, Android Pay in the UK, many experts are still less than convinced that the idea of replacing a credit card with a smartphone is really going to gain mainstream consumer appeal. According to Juniper Research, by the end of 2016, 148 million people around the world will be reaching for their handsets to make payments at in-store point of sales (POS) terminals. In its latest white paper, "Contactless Payments: ‘NFC Handsets, Wearables & Payment Cards 2016-2020," the research firm highlights that one-in-five POS terminals in the US now supports NFC (one of the technologies that facilitates payments by smartphones) and points to Apple as a catalyst for consumer interest in the technology.



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