The days of cash and credit cards may soon come to an end, if the folks who run the Pew Internet & American Life Project are right. The Pew folks and Elon University recently released a study that predicts  by 2020, smart-device swiping will have gained mainstream acceptance as a method of payment and could largely replace cash and credit cards for most online and in-store purchases by smartphone and tablet owners.

What will drive this sea-change in payment methods?

Many of the people surveyed by Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center and the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project said that the security, convenience and other benefits of “mobile wallet” systems will lead to widespread adoption of these technologies for everyday purchases.

But not everyone’s upbeat about the prospect. Other respondents — including some who are generally positive about the future of mobile payments — expect this process to unfold relatively slowly due to a combination of

• privacy fears
• a desire for anonymous payments,
• demographic inertia
• a lack of infrastructure to support widespread adoption, and
• resistance from those with a financial stake in the existing payment structure.

To read the full report, visit here.

Tags: option, payment, Pew Internet & American Life Project, smart-device, swipe