A recent study by Oxygen8, a global provider of integrated mobile products, found that 47 percent of mobile users in the U.K. would like more opportunities to use their mobile phone to pay for physical or quasi-physical goods. Based on a poll of 1,000 U.K. adults with mobile devices, the research concluded that as many as 23 million people are familiar with mobile transactions and overall demand is rising for more widespread adoption of the technology to improve the customer experience.

The most popular service people use their mobile device for is eBay (News - Alert), with 25 percent of respondents indicating they use an app for it. 14 percent use apps to pay bills, 10 percent to purchase clothes and 9 percent to purchase groceries. Oxygen8 found that male users are more likely to take advantage of this technology, especially for paying bills (15 percent), ordering groceries (11 percent), paying for car parking (9 percent) and transferring money (13 percent). On the other hand, female users tend to gravitate towards purchasing items on eBay (27 percent) or buying clothes through an app (11 percent).

"The research reveals that mobile users in the U.K. are already accustomed to buying goods and services with their mobile phones," said Kevin Dawson, Head of Payments at Oxygen8. "As of next year, they will be able to do so without the hassle of finding their credit or debit cards, and the inconvenience of processing that payment, just one click and it will appear on their mobile phone bill."

"Not only will mobile payments provide a new and simplistic opportunity for consumers, the planned groundbreaking developments will open up new payments opportunities for companies wanting to make their own products and services more accessible to their customers."

It estimated that by the end of 2014 U.K. consumers will spend about $824 per capita via mobile payments. Nearly 80 percent of these purchases are made on tablets, although research has found a steady increase in adoption of mobile payment technology on smartphones. Growing mobile habits coupled with improving mobile transaction infrastructure is expected to be a driving force in taking mobile payments to the mainstream.