When Martin Cooper made the world’s first mobile phone call 50 years ago, it began a revolution that would transform how humans interact with technology. Today, a smartphone is the go-to device for any number of activities, way beyond calls – from livestreaming your morning routine to paying for the goods and services we buy. It’s been a key driver of the shift towards digital payments – which accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic, and has continued since – with almost one in three people in the UK now registered with at least one mobile wallet, such as Apple Pay.
According to Kostas Xiradakis, vice-president of product and growth at Viva.com, a European cloud-based technology bank, people in the UK are more open to trying new payment methods compared with the rest of Europe, and more businesses are offering digital payment options than ever before. “The UK market is very advanced, and customers have an awareness of various checkout options because they’ve experienced them,” he says, referring to technology such as self-checkout and, in checkout-free stores, radio frequency identification tags. “Payment is becoming democratised. Digital payment technology is becoming much easier to implement, without the need for a large upfront cost.”
