The 7 Most Popular Mobile Payment Apps in the World 2

Everyday we hear about new mobile payment apps, and about how one mobile payment app is attracting millions of new users. In this post, i thought i would highlight some of the most popular mobile payment apps (in no particular order) in the world. As i find new interesting information, i will add/update this post. The reason i call them the most popular mobile payments apps in the world is because of the numbers – simply amazing – check them out:

Popular Mobile Payment Apps:

1. Paytm

• Launch date: 2010
• Number of countries: 1
  
• Active customer accounts: 180 million
• Total value of payments in 2016: $5 billion (as of November 2016)
• Total number of payments in 2016: 1 billion
• Largest markets: India

Reference: Paytm

2. Apple Pay

• Launch date: October 2014
• Number of countries: 13
  
• Active customer accounts: We don’t know?!
  • What we do know is that the number of Apple Pay users tripled in 2016 (Ref: Mobile World Live) and has approximately 12 million monthly users (Ref: Digital Pivot)
• Total value of payments in 2016: We don’t know?!
  • What we do know is that the Apple Pay transaction totalled $10.9 billion in 2015
• Total number of payments in 2016: We don’t know?!
  • What we do know is that transaction volume was up over 500% year-over-year
• Largest markets: USA

Reference: NFC World

3. Samsung Pay

• Launch date: August 2015
• Number of countries: 12 (Ref: eMarketer)
• Active customer accounts: We don’t know?!
  • What we do know is that as-of Feb 2016, Samsung Pay had 5 million users
• Total value of payments in 2016: We don’t know?!
  • What we d know is that in the six months leading to Feb 2016, Samsung Pay processed over $500 million
• Total number of payments in 2016: We don’t know?!
  • What we do know is that during August 2015 – August 2016 there were about 100 million unique transactions in 7 countries (Ref: Samsung)
• Largest markets: South Korea

Ref: Samsung

4. Android Pay

• Launch date: September 2015
• Number of countries: 9 (Ref: Digital Trends)
• Active customer accounts: 5 million monthly users (Ref: Digital Pivot)
• Total value of payments in 2016: To be confirmed
• Total number of payments in 2016: To be confirmed
• Largest markets: US, UK

5. AliPay

• Launch date: August 2004
• Number of countries: 110 (Ref: AliPay)
• Active customer accounts: 450 million (Ref: AliPay)
• Total value of payments in 2016: I couldn’t find this value 
  • But many sources indicate on Singles Day (11-Nov-2016) in China AliPay processed just over a billion transactions totalling $14.6 billion (in a day!!!)
• Total number of payments in 2016: 91 billion (Ref: FT – based on 250 million transactions a day)
• Largest markets: China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand

6. PayPal

• Launch date: October 1999
• Number of countries: 202
• Active customer accounts: 197 million
• Total value of payments in 2016: $354 billion
• Total number of payments in 2016: 6.1 billion
• Largest markets: USA, UK, Germany, Australia & New Zealand

Reference: Paypal Media Resources

7. M-Pesa

• Launch date: March 2007
• Number of countries: 10 (Ref: Vodafone)
• Active customer accounts: 25 million (Ref: Telecoms)
• Total value of payments in 2016: $24 billion  – Period: Jan-Sept 2016 in Kenya only (Ref: Nairobi News)
  
• Total number of payments in 2016: 326.8 million – Kenya only (Ref: The Star)
• Largest markets: Kenya

Reference: Vodafone

If you spot any incorrect information, please let me know in the comments below the correct information (include the source) and i will make the necessary corrections!