Consumers Are Ready for Mobile Wallet

Consumers are ready for the mobile wallet, according to results from a survey by Atlanta-based mobile financial solutions provider Firethorn, a Qualcomm company.

Keeping in mind that the findings are from a mobile financial services vendor, the study's results are still telling. Overall, claimed Firethorn, the results show that people in the U.S. are starting to use their phones for much more than making calls. One significant finding was that the majority of consumers polled (59 percent) said they desired to use their phones to pay for items at the point of sale. Additionally, over three quarters (76 percent) said they wanted an alternative to carrying a wallet stuffed with cash, cards and coupons.

Participants were also interested in using their mobile phones as a shopping assistant for price comparisons (64 percent), access to credit card details, balances and transactions (61 percent), and organizing and tracking their gift card, loyalty and reward accounts (59 percent).

Furthermore, and probably of most importance to banks, 85 percent said they like to track their finances on a daily basis—an indication that people would likely respond favorably to personal financial management functionality on their phones. Nearly two"thirds (62 percent) of consumers say that they are likely to download and use a free account management application that would allow them to organize and track their financial and shopping account information. And it was through their banks that almost half of the participants heard about mobile banking.

Firethorn conducted the research online among 1,350 adults age 18 to 64 who own a mobile phone and have a financial instrument.