The number of consumers making contactless payments via their mobile handsets will reach 148 million this year, with Apple and Samsung together accounting for nearly 70 per cent of new customers, a study from UK digital commerce and fintech analyst house Juniper Research has found.The Juniper study found that host card emulation - where credentials and other sensitive data are stored in the cloud - had already been deployed by over 50 financial institutions, including several in Australia.The research also queried the prospects for solutions based around NFC stickers, arguing that phones using prepaid top-up contactless wallets without a secure element represented a significant security risk.Juniper said that "even where closed-loop solutions were employed, thieves could simply spend the wallet's balance at participating retail outlets."