Report: Mobile Payments to Top $1 Billion in 2013

Though the market is growing more slowly than previously projected, an eMarketer report predicts that mobile payments in the United States will break the $1 billion barrier this year and then hit $58 billion by 2017.

The eMarketer study defines such payments as "transactions for goods or services made by scanning, tapping, swiping or checking in with a mobile phone at the point of sale." They differ from mobile commerce, which is defined as purchasing items on a mobile device. The researcher predicts mobile commerce sales will hit $38.4 billion this year.