The year of the mobile was certainly heralded for quite a few consecutive years but now it seems we're in for the year of mobile payments.
A study from MasterCard of 13 million social media conversations points to increasingly positive feeling about mobile payments in 2013 compared to 2012.
The study, carried out by Prime Research, reveals those who have used mobile payments drive more than 80% of the conversation which MasterCard says is a reversal of 2012 when only 32% of those discussing mobile had used a product.
The research also shows conversations, tracked across Twitter, Facebook, blogs and online forums, have largely moved from 'why use mobile payment' to 'which service to use'.
Of those who have used a service, almost three quarters (74%) are positive about mobile payments compared to 58% in 2012.
Feedback about the transaction experience has also improved to 63% positive in 2013 compared with 34% positive in 2012.
Merchants acceptance of mobile payments is also increasing and accounted for 15% of the total conversations. While availability of mobile payment services from retailers was seen as a barrier to entry in 2012, it is now the top positive discussion in 2013.
The research also shows security continues to be a concern with 66% of conversations ending up negative.
MasterCard, which unveiled the results during Mobile Web Congress in Barcelona, also announced a partnership with Syniverse tying mobile payments to geolocation.
Of course MasterCard has more than a little skin in the game but other recent studies show similar trends with Ayden's Mobile Payments Index revealing 19.5% of payments globally came via mobile.
The Ayden study also shows the travel industry as particularly in mobile payments with almost 30% of all transactions made via tablet or smartphone.
The following infographic highlights the MasterCard trends:
TH