Acceptance of mobile wallet 2016? according to Forrester Predictions:

Apple will boost the mobile wallet and contactless ecosystem. Apple Pay and many other new, innovative offerings will gain momentum and accelerate the shift to mobile payments in the US. They will also drive a lot of dynamism for the global contactless ecosystem.

Forrester expects many commercial rollouts in more-mature contactless countries in Europe (e.g., Poland and the UK) or in Asia Pacific (e.g., Australia and Japan). By putting Passbook at the center of its Apple Pay ecosystem, Apple will be able to provide a secure and convenient one-touch checkout experience for consumers.

However, the phenomenon will not scale globally as early as next year. Why? Firstly, because we expect many retailers to launch their own integrated apps à la Starbucks, merging payments with coupons, services, and loyalty schemes to engage with their most loyal users.21

Secondly, because it will require a lot of education for wallets to become mainstream third-party platforms to acquire new customers. For example, fewer than 15% of European online smartphone users aged 16-plus used a mobile wallet, and only 9% would trust Apple to offer one.22 In addition, only 15% of marketers have used Passbook on iOS.23

Action for marketers: Marketers must definitely prepare to make the most of the upcoming mobile wallet era and should start to activate marketing campaigns with the likes of Vibes to get insights on mobile wallet performance. Marketing leaders should think holistically of mobile wallet marketing by designing timely and relevant offerings, based on location and contextual triggers, using multiple channels (e.g., email, social, apps, etc. ) to distribute wallet content.

Wallets will progressively emerge into a key third-party platform to engage consumers, but not in 2015. Wallets fit the model of both micro moments and borrowed moments that better serve customers than a deep dive into individual apps.