Mobile Payments Poised to Explode in 2011

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- America looks ready to abandon its debit and credit cards and embrace paying by smartphone.

Startups are restless and there is some auspicious news from the nation's top tech companies. There are also some striking figures: U.S. mobile bill payments will reach $214 billion in gross dollar volume in 2015, up from $16 billion this year -- a 68% compound annual growth rate, Boston-based Aite Group forecasts.

Over the past 12 to 18 months, the United States has begun to move closer to "a tipping point that will lead to the popularization of mobile payments," says Aite in research released earlier this month that counters the perception the U.S. lags behind the rest of the world in a shift to mobile payment platforms.

The U.S. has been seen as behind in the move for smartphone payments, but the country is said to be catching up fast.

Researchers credit the rapid consumer adoption of smartphones and carriers' and handset manufacturers' adoption of near-field communication chips for the breakthrough. NFC is the technology that allows chips, and therefore smartphones and tablets, to transmit data wirelessly when in close range -- including to a cash register or vending machine.

"Firms missing the signs that the market is now rapidly shifting will be at a serious disadvantage in the next few years," says Gwenn Bezard, a research director with Aite Group and author of the report. "Many organizations within the industry remain unaware that mobile payments are in a period of rapid transformation. Those that have any desire to play a role in this market must wake up now."

The 60 companies Aite interviewed for the report is a hodge-podge of household names and lesser-known startups with funky monikers. The former includes Visa(V), Master Card(MA), Discover(DFS), Amazon(AMZN), American Express(AXP), Apple(AAPL), AT&T(T), Facebook, Research in Motion(RIMM), Twitter, T-Mobile, Chase(JPM), Verizon(VZ), Google(GOOG), Starbucks(SBUX) and eBay's(EBAY) PayPal.

The latter group has such would-be catchy names as GoWalla, Bill2Mobile, Mocapay, Hipcricket, C-Sam, Cashedge, Roamware, Cellfire, Rocketbuxx, Xipwire and Zong.

While start-ups stake out their territory, giants such as Google and Apple are escalating the competition on a larger scale.

Speaking at the Web 2.0 conference last month in San Francisco, Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced that the coming version of its Android operating system will support NFC chips. Apple is also been reported to be adding NFC experts to its staff to implement the technology on iPhones. Similar plans are afoot by Nokia(NOK) and RIM.