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New U.S. consumer research commissioned by the Smart Card Alliance showed 9 percent of the U.S. population now has a contactless credit or debit card. Last year the number of open network contactless cards in circulation reached 35 million in 2007, nearly doubling from 19 million in 2006, according to another study from JupiterResearch.

The Alliance survey showed 92 percent of contactless users thought it was both fast and easy. On the whole, these users had positive experiences at merchants too, reporting that 85 percent of cashiers knew how to accept contactless, and 84 percent saw contactless acceptance marks at the point-of-sale. Contactless users are also paying with their contactless cards or fobs frequently, with over 22 percent using contactless payment more than six times per month.

The Alliance survey, conducted in 2008 by Javelin Strategy and Research, included two pools of respondents: 1,500 respondents that are representative of the U.S. online population, which is 73 percent of the U.S. population, and 500 contactless credit/debit card users.

Leading contactless issuers have also made positive reports.

"Millions of Chase customers make contactless payments every day using Chase cards with blink," said Deana Cook, who manages the contactless feature at Chase, in a prepared statement. "We have found that customers especially appreciate making contactless payments in places where speed and convenience is important. Our research shows that customers who make contactless payments do so often, and we continue to issue and reissue millions of Chase cards with blink. Contactless technology is also safe and secure. Issuers of contactless credit cards have seen no evidence of increased fraud."

Peter Ho, vice president and product manager for Wells Fargo Card Services, commented on the high security of contactless payment cards. "Unlike other card payment mechanisms, contactless payments utilize a dynamic verification value that is unique to each transaction. This is a very strong security feature because it prevents criminals from making fraudulent contactless transactions," he said.

One challenge highlighted by the recent Alliance consumer study was that more communication is needed to reach more consumers. Awareness has grown significantly since 2006, with 25 percent of consumers surveyed now familiar with contactless payments compared to 15 percent in 2006; however, more than 50 percent of consumers still are not familiar with contactless payments. Even in high penetration zip codes nearly half of all consumers are unfamiliar with contactless.

"Communicating and building awareness of contactless benefits to get consumers to try it is critical, and an important priority for all of the stakeholders," said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance.

Merchant acceptance of contactless is also strong and growing. There are now 75,000 U.S. merchant locations accepting contactless payment, including taxi cabs and transit operators, according to David Robertson, publisher of The Nilson Report, a trade newsletter that tracks the payment industry.

"Contactless payment acceptance at merchants is taking off much faster than PIN debit did," said John Suchanec, senior vice president of Payment Research and Innovations, Bank of America. "Contactless acceptance is already growing at a rate that it took seven years to achieve with PIN debit. Mobile will accelerate the curve."