Digital wallets to dominate payments by 2020

digital 'wallets' will be common within a decade, largely replacing cash and credit cards, according to a Pew Research survey, Brisbane Times reports.

Sixty-five percent of "technology stakeholders and critics" who responded to an opt-in poll by Pew Research and Elon University Imagining the Internet Centre, released in the US, agreed that handheld gadgets would be a mainstream way to pay by the year 2020.

MSN says many people are using smartphones to pay for a variety of goods and services, including renting movies via iTunes or Netflix, or buying e-books from Amazon.

Mobile payment technologies are in the early stages in the US among manufacturers. Google is among those leading the way with its Google Wallet partnership with Citibank and MasterCard, using near-field communication.

CNN quotes survey respondent and Harvard University professor Susan Crawford as saying: "There is nothing more imaginary than a monetary system. The idea that we solemnly hand around printed slips of paper in exchange for food and water shows just how trusting and fond of patterned behaviour we human beings are."

Crawford, an ex-special assistant for technology policy for president Barack Obama, asked: "So why not take the next step? Of course, we'll move to even more abstract representations of value."

Pew's report said those who think mobile payments will dominate in the coming years frequently said the boom in smartphone ownership, convenience and security are key factors that make "these systems an obvious choice to replace established modes of payment in day-to-day commerce".