Contactless POS devices will phase out traditional ones by 2024: Report

From 78 million in 2019, the installed base of contactless-enabled POS (point of sale) devices will exceed to 161 million by 2024, reveals a new study which also suggests that by that time, contactless POS devices would have practically phased out the traditional ones. 

According to Juniper Research’s POS Hardware: Payments Innovation, Vendor Analysis and Market Forecasts 2019-24 report, this growth will be largely driven by the deployment of contactless POS terminals in the US and the increasing use of contactless payments to replace traditional cash payments in emerging markets. 

The research found that the average value per contactless transaction will grow from under $19 in 2019 to over $23 in 2024, with mobile payments and increasing contactless card issuance in the US driving growth. It recommends that POS vendors focus on minimising the cost of POS hardware solutions to enable further displacement of cash for more diverse use cases.

Heartache remedy

It’s painful to see your favourite sports team lose but it sure is doubly painful to see your betting money hedged on them going down the drain. To help ease your pain in such situations, researchers have a new remedy — don’t bet on your favourite. Experts from Warwick Business School and Oxford University conducted the study and it has been published by the IZA Institute of Labor Economics in the paper, Does it pay to bet on your favourite to win? 

Nick Powdthavee, professor of behavioural science at the Warwick Business School and co-author of the study, said: “Many fans overestimate how bad they would feel if they bet against their team. 

They would rather stay loyal to their team than betray their social identity by hedging their bets, even if that might save them a lot of heartache in the long term.” Each fan was told to record their anticipated and actual happiness before and after the match. Despite the results suggesting that fans should be against their team, most fans considered that "disloyal" and refused to do so, researchers found.