Mobile payment applications: offer state of the art in the Italian market

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to provide an initial study on the Italian mobile payment services market, and to identify and assess the main diffusion drivers of mobile payment applications.Design/methodology/approachThe research design integrates an exhaustive census of all Italian mPayment applications and an in‐depth analysis of the most significant cases performed through the case studies methodology: ten user companies or “merchants” and six service providers were analyzed through semi‐structured interviews given to top managers.FindingsThrough the census, 21 mPayment applications and related services were identified. In addition to this, the case studies brought greater understanding of the key diffusion drivers: strong inhibitory factors and adoption barriers are still restricting user adoption despite the many benefits related to these services.Research limitations/implicationsThe research represents a first, exploratory study of a market at its embryonic stage of development. Nevertheless, given the global magnitude of the Italian mobile telecommunications market and the gradual rise of the mPayment paradigm, the analysis can provide a valuable basis for future studies in the field.Practical implicationsThe findings can support a wide set of stakeholders – both first movers and newcomers of the mobile payment segment – in their offer definition and market making choices.Originality/valueThe paper combines a census and a case study methodology to delineate the offer's state of the art for innovative, mobile channel‐based payment services; moreover, its assessment of the applications' core benefits, diffusion drivers and adoption barriers can be tested for generalization to different contexts.