The total transaction volume by Chinese independent mobile payments services reached 1219.74 billion yuan (roughly $200 billion) in 2013, a 707 percent year-over-year increase, according to the latest report by online tracking and data analysis service iResearch.

The independent services iResearch refers to are all payments services excluding those by conventional banks and China UnionPay, the bank card association. And payments include peer-to-peer money transfers.

chinamobilepaymentmarket

The major driver of the growth, however, isn’t mobile shopping anymore, but online money transfers, credit card payoffs, and other mobile payment applications.

AI Weekly

The must-read newsletter for AI and Big Data industry written by Khari Johnson, Kyle Wiggers, and Seth Colaner.

Included with VentureBeat Insider and VentureBeat VIP memberships.

Payments via text messages decreased steeply in the past three years, from 92.5 percent in 2010 to 6.1 percent in 2013. Last year, 93.1 percent of payments were through mobile payment apps or other services.

The share of near-field communication (NFC) payments declined from 2.6 percent one year ago to 0.8 percent — NFC, the only mainstream near-field technology, isn’t widely adopted in China. But it is expected that other near field payment solutions like Alipay On-site, with QR code and acoustic payment capability, will drive near-field payments in 2014.

mobilepaymentcategories

Related posts:

  1. Report: 2013Q2 China Mobile Payments Turnover Reached 106.41 Billion Yuan
  2. China Mobile Gaming Revenues to More Than Triple in 2013:iResearch Report
  3. 2012 was A Big Year for Chinese Independent Payments Services

This story originally appeared on TechNode. Copyright 2014

VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Learn More