Subscribers not convinced of m-commerce security

Forty-five percent of U.S. adults who own wireless handsets believe the mobile channel is at least somewhat safe for making purchases, and 26 percent say it's fairly or very safe to do so, according to the results of a new consumer study conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of m-commerce solutions firm Billing Revolution. Assuming mobile commerce purchases are indeed safe, 46 percent of subscribers said they would be willing to make purchases via mobile device--within this segment, 75 percent of respondents would be willing to buy entertainment items including movie/event tickets (58 percent), music (41 percent), mobile video or TV content (24 percent) and games (34 percent). In addition, 68 percent of respondents would be willing to purchase food and drinks on their mobiles, led by pizza (59 percent), fast food (42 percent) and coffee (25 percent). Forty-three percent would be willing to purchase hotel rooms, and 40 percent would agree to buying travel tickets.

Among the 77 percent of U.S. adults who receive bills from both mobile operators and credit card companies, 57 percent say they trust credit providers more than carriers when it comes to accurately billing them for payments--Harris Interactive notes that number rises to 65 percent among subscribers ages 55 and up, compared to 52 percent among consumers between the ages of 18 and 34. While 50 percent of male subscribers believe m-commerce transactions are at least somewhat safe, only 39 percent of women expressed a similar level of confidence.

For more on the Harris Interactive poll:
- read this release

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