Harris Interactive Poll Measures Consumer Sentiment on Mobile Purchases

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Billing Revolution from April 29 to May 1, 2009 among 2,029 adults ages 18 and older, of whom 1,883 own cell phones. Results were weighted as needed to reflect the composition of the U.S. population of adults ages 18+ using targets for region, age within gender, education, household income, race/ethnicity, and propensity to be online.

The results found that:

Nearly 4 out of 5 U.S. adults (77%) receive bills from cell phone and credit card companies, and of these adults, the majority (57%) trust credit cards companies more than cell phone companies when it comes to accurately billing them for a payment;

Older adults are significantly more likely than their younger counterparts to trust credit card companies more than cell phone companies (65% of those ages 55+ vs. 52% of those ages 18-34);

The poll also measured consumer sentiment on mobile commerce, that is the ability to purchase products from mobile devices, which is currently estimated by ABI Research to be responsible for $1.6 billion in 2009 (transacted via non-NFC methods).

93% of U.S. adults (93%) own a cell phone, and nearly half of these adults (45%) think it's at least somewhat safe to make a purchase through their cell phone with 26% saying they think it's fairly or very safe to do so;

Assuming it was safe to make purchases through cell phones, nearly half of cell phone owners (46%) would be willing to make purchases this way.

Of those who would be willing to make purchases through their cellphone, (75%) would be willing to buy entertainment items, such as movie/event tickets (58%), music (41%), mobile video or TV content (24%) and games (34%).

Many would also purchase food/drink items (68%) such as pizza (59%), fast food (42%), and/or coffee (25%), and over half (55%) would be willing to purchase hotel rooms (43%) and/or tickets for travel (40%) this way;

Other interesting data collected during the survey were more specific to gender, age, education, and income, such as:

Men who own a cell phone are more likely than their female counterparts to think it is safe to make purchases through their cell phones (50% of men think it's at least somewhat safe vs. 39% of women);

Younger cell phone owning adults are also more likely than older counterparts to think it's at least somewhat safe to make purchases (59% of those ages 18-34 vs. 34% of those ages 55+);

Those who own a cell phone and have a college degree or higher are more likely than those who own a cell phone and have a high school degree or less to think it's at least somewhat safe (50% vs. 38% respectively);

Adults who receive bills from both cell phone and credit cards companies and make $75,000 per year or more are more likely than their counterparts who make less than $35,000 per year to trust credit cards companies more than cell phone companies when it comes to accurately billing them for payment (65% vs. 53% respectively);

"There's clearly a large U.S. population of consumers open to the idea of making purchases via their cell phones," said Andy Kleitsch, CEO Billing Revolution. "With consumers getting more comfortable navigating the web from mobile phones, mobile commerce is poised for explosive growth, and consumers are very much leading the charge in this direction."

About Billing Revolution

Billing Revolution provides technology that enables secure credit card purchases from a mobile phone. Merchants use Billing Revolution's proprietary technology to provide a mobile optimized purchase experience. Using the platform, merchants have the ability to conduct "single-click" credit card transactions from any web-enabled mobile phone. To learn more about Billing Revolution's mobile commerce payment solutions, products and services, please visit www.billingrevolution.com.

This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Billing Revolution.