(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) 's () chief executive Tim Cook described 2015 as "the year of Pay" during its momentous earnings call last week.
Installed on the iPhone 6 the service is the tech giant’s take on a digital wallet allowing users to make purchases at tills with their phones.
It’s not the first example of a contactless payment system; there is already an army of banks and tech firms out there trying to wean the world away from cash.
In fact data from Juniper Research predicts the annual transaction value of global online mobile and contactless payments will rise from just over US$2.5trn in 2014 to US$4.7trn by 2019.
But for AIM-listed () it was ’s entrance into the market at the end of last year more importantly its decision to use near-field communication (NFC) could be a potential game-changer.
For contactless payments to work each transaction relies on NFC which happens to be the technology that underpins ’s business.
NFC involves a communication device (a mobile) and a NFC tap point. When the mobile is placed near the tap point the two interact and the data is shared.
’s marketing unit allows brands to push their products and loyalty programmes to nearby shoppers via their NFC mobile phones while its payments platform enables banks and card companies to transition their card portfolio onto mobile.
The firm derives revenue from each deal on a cost per tap basis as well as campaign set-up fees and campaign reporting analytics.
It has had the backing of some major players in recent years from MasterCard to now it's Pay providing the latest catalyst to its business.
“The inclusion of NFC in the iPhone 6 and the launch of Pay in the USA has made mobile contactless payments using NFC inevitable” said chief executive Neil Garner.
Garner expects 2015 to be a period of significant revenue growth for his business and expects to show a profit before overheads by the end of 2015.
Heavy investment caused ’s losses to rise to an underlying £5.6mln (£3.1mln) in 2014 though this was less than management expected.
Revenues were flat at £0.8mln reflecting still being in its early stages of development.
However analysts at Peel Hunt forecast sales of £6.9mln in 2015 and £16mln the year after while the broker estimates a reducing loss for the business this year of just over £2mln before a profit before tax of £4.5mln in 2016.
’s £2mln acquisition of Aconite Technology last December which offers similar solutions to customers in the USA is another reason Peel Hunt is optimistic.
The takeover is set to to provide an end-to-end mobile card issuance platform integrated with the physical chip card issuance process.
also expects costs savings of £1.5mln through synergies with Aconite and with these savings expects the Payments arm show a trading profit before overheads by the end of 2015.
The last quarter of 2014 saw many customers and partners gearing up for a much busier 2015.
Its marketing division in the UK already works with brands like Harrods () and Argos.
New products and a beefed up sales force on the East and West Coasts of the US and Canada will help drive growth.
The group added it wants to open at least two new additional geographic markets.
The number of bluetooth beacons which register when a person passes close by on the High Street for example is targeted to rise to 10000 with 20 new customers to be added to its network and expansion into more UK cities.
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