Mobile Payment Use Expanding Globally and RapidlyRecently, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and Lightspeed Research revealed the findings of the latest UK, French and German Mobile Consumer Briefing reports on Mobile Commerce. Not surprisingly, an increasing number of Europeans are now engaging in some form of mobile commerce. But while many similar studies have targeted the rise in popularity and acceptance of mobile payments in localized regions, a new report from Gartner, Inc. takes a macro view of mobile payment familiarity and comfort of use. And the results are equally as promising on a global scale.

Gartner’s finding indicate that the number of mobile payment users worldwide will exceed 108.6 million in 2010. That impressive figure represents a 54.5% increase over 2009, when there were only 70.2 million users. All told, mobile payment users will represent 2.1% of all mobile users in 2010.

Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner, said that strong growth for mobile payment continues to be found in “developing markets” like Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while “adoption in North America and Western Europe lags behind due to the plentiful choices of payment instruments that consumers have.”

“Developing markets have found the right formula for mobile money services –  functions that users want and an ecosystem that can sustain the service,” says Shen.

For now, the Asia/Pacific region leads among the highest concentration of mobile payment users. By the end of 2010, Asia/Pacific mobile payment users will surpass 62.8 million and represent 2.6% of all mobile users. Gartner also reveals that in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, mobile payment users will total 27.1 million, collectively representing 2.1% of all mobile users in the region.

Last but not least, mobile payment users in North America will number 3.5 million and represent 1.1% of all mobile users in the region.