Experts Claim Most People Will Make Purchases Via Phone by 2020

Remember when personal checks were a new, innovative technology? (Neither do I). The ability to offer a slip of paper in place of cash that would later be deducted from your back account, at the time, probably seem outrageous to consumers. So what would those people think of the recent survey that found the majority of the 1,021 internet experts and users polled, agreed that by 2020 most people will have adapted to primarily using their smartphones and other smart devices to complete transactions.

65% of those polled believed that our mobile devices will serve as people’s wallets in developed countries, making paying with cash and even with credit cards a thing of the past. With more and more businesses offering the ability to scan and pay for items with a phone, it makes sense that this trend will continue until it becomes the dominating form of payment. Some 38% of smartphone users reported to having used their phone to complete some kind of bank transaction, from paying a bill to checking on account balances and that 46% of users had used their phone to buy an app.

The survey showed that 65% of those who responded on the survey agreed that by 2020 people would begin to trust software and personal hardware as their primary form of payment on the Internet and in stores. These people also agreed with a statement that claims cash and credit cards will, for the most part disappear, from transactions made in developed countries.

One of the survey responders, Susan Crawford, a professor at Harvard University, believes we absolutely will take this next step seeing as our monetary system is one of the most mythical systems in place. To be able to give someone a piece of paper, made by humans, in exchange for services, water, or food shows just how ingrained we are to and trust this pattern of behavior. With a system that’s already so intangible, the logical next step would be to make our concept of value even more abstract and further remove us from the money we’re spending.

While 65% of responders agreed that we will move to a completely automated monetary system, a third of respondents agreed with the complete opposite. They agreed that there will be no major transition for using digital forms of payments all the time. These participants believe there won’t be the conversion because of the security issues. Some believe that our current monetary system will have to change because of the insecurities already ingrained in our credit card system. However, experts claim that paying by smartphone is actually no less or no more dangerous than the other systems we use, like credit cards, today.

With the explosion of smartphone and other devices recently, it only makes sense to most of the survey responders that they will be involved in banking of the future since they’re already pretty much involved right now. With options like taking a photo of a check and sending it to the bank in place of making a physical deposit to balance transfer offers via your phone, smartphones are making going to the bank close to completely unnecessary.

As our means of payment have continually evolved since banking became a primary institution, smartphones are the personal checks, debit cards, credit cards of the future.