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Mobile Payments Will Soon Replace Cash

By 2016, the lines that separate online shopping from actual shopping will be erased and the world will have its first ‘cashless generation’ as demand for paper currency wanes.
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What’s the Latest Development?

Several new reports say that smartphones will replace cash, in most instances, much faster than we think. According to new surveys, 72 percent of business executives believe that smartphone payments, on a large scale, are inevitable and 58 percent of businesses have already implemented a mobile payment system. “The report says that the trend is only growing stronger with each passing year. About 50% of all mobile or smartphone device users bought something via mobile payments…”

What’s the Big Idea?

As smartphone payment systems proliferate, society will gradually become cashless. Carl Scheible, Managing Director of PayPal UK, says that while cash will not be entirely eliminated, the demand for it will decrease: “The lines between the online world and [downtown shops] will soon disappear altogether. Children born today will become the UK’s first ‘cashless generation.’ It will be completely natural for them to pay by mobile.” PayPal estimates that by 2016, mobile payments will become the dominant way to pay at shops.

Photo credit: shutterstock.com

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