The battle between Research In Motion and wireless carriers over mobile-payment data is a precursor to a larger war over who owns consumers making transactions using mobile devices.

The top executive at MoreMagic Solutions, a global mobile commerce and financial services provider, said that mobile payments have made great strides but that the industry is still two or three years away from mass-market adoption.

Widespread adoption of mobile payments via near field communication is still at least two years away, according to a global survey by Sybase 365.

Analysts predict an increase in malware – malicious software – and other security threats that hackers spread through mobile devices, especially as sales of smartphones continue to explode worldwide.

Businesses in Chicago are using mobile-social rewards to generate awareness, encourage in-store traffic and build customer loyalty.

The near field communication ecosystem is finally coming together, setting the stage for the massive worldwide deployment of contactless mobile payments in 2012.

The first and most important task for the near field communication ecosystem is to define the kind of infrastructure that will be used to enable businesses to provide NFC-based services to their customers, according to SJB Research.

Multiple reports are adding fuel to the fire of rumors that Apple’s iPhone 5 will be embedded with a near field communication chip, a move that could shoot mobile payments into the stratosphere.

With corporate behemoths such as Starbucks Coffee Co. and McDonald’s Corp. leading the way, 50 percent of consumers will have made a mobile payment of some kind by 2014, according to Juniper Research.

Mobile payments will approach $1 trillion by 2015 in the United States if retailers receive lower payment-processing fees based on a more efficient system, according to The Luciano Group.