Smartphones or tablets serving as digital ‘wallets’ will be ordinary in less than a decade, greatly replacing cash and credit cards, states a Pew Research survey released on Tuesday.
![Soon! Smartphone Payment to Go Mainstream Soon! Smartphone Payment to Go Mainstream](https://www.medindia.net/afp/images/Lifestyle-US-IT-Internet-telecom-gypsii-SXSW-155431.jpg)
"The 2020 date might be a bit optimistic, but I'm sure that this will happen," Google chief economist Hal Varian was quoted as saying in a survey response.
"What is in your wallet now? Identification, payment, and personal items," he continued. "All this will easily fit in your mobile device and will inevitably do so."
Google last year launched a "Wallet" service that lets sophisticated Android-powered mobile phones be used to "tap and pay" for purchases at shops.
Many of the 1,021 people surveyed said that security and convenience would be among the factors prompting people to shift to using smartphones or tablets as de facto credit cards or cash.
Some who were optimistic about the future of smartphone wallets expected the trend to be slowed by privacy fears, lack of infrastructure, and resistance by credit card companies and other entities profiting on the current system.
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Almost none of the people surveyed expected cash or credit cards to disappear completely, according to Pew.
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"Indeed, some expect these services to most quickly reach widespread adoption in the developing world, due to its lack of an incumbent banking sector and ingrained consumer habits."
Source-AFP