NFC payments could dominate over cash and credit cards by 2020

NFC payment systems are taking off really slowly in the US, but according to a new study, they could be the dominant form of retail payment by 2020. That doesn’t seem like long, but think of how quickly credit and debit card payments took off once the technology for quick, secure transactions was available to retailers and banks.

The study — conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center — surveyed a total of 1,021 “internet experts and other internet users.” It found that 65 percent of those who responded believe that swiping a smartphone as a form of payment will become widely adopted by the end of the decade.

The rest of the respondents felt that security concerns would be an issue in terms of adoption, though it’s important to note that not everyone questioned was an expert — in addition to the researchers and professors who were named, many of the respondents were anonymous. Even still, the results show that people are becoming increasingly comfortable with the concept. This shouldn’t be too surprising considering that many of us already rarely use cash thanks to credit and debit cards — though concerns about NFC payment security aren’t entirely unfounded.

Via