Would you change your wallet into mobile phone?

For gadget junkies and tech addict, it’s no surprise at all if we choose our favorite gadgets over wallet; well perhaps in few certain circumstances. But there’s a new surprising fact, based on recent survey conducted by market research firm IDC & sponsored by Nortel Networks Corp.

They asks around 2,367 people; which item they would prefer to take with them if they had to leave the house for 24 hours and could take only one. The result shows that there are more than 38% have chose their mobile phones over their wallet, less than 30% chose their wallet first.

And there are about 16% of those people can be defined as “hyperconnected”, this means they are using at least seven devices for work and for personal access. In addition to at least nine applications for instant messaging, text messaging, web conference, email and social networking.

The survey also predicts the number of this “hyperconnected” people will likely to rise 40% in five years to come, and that’s exactly what Nortel wished for. Because for Nortel (the North America’s biggest maker of telephone gear), demand for more devices that are connecting to the net will also mean an increase in demand for the network technologies it makes too.

China is the country with highest percentage of “hyperconnected” respondents according to the survey, and this could be a very good news indeed for Microsoft’s Fone+ project that I was talking about at previous post here at PA. But Canada and United Arab Emirates had the fewest number among the 17 countries surveyed, but where are those Crackberries at Canada then? ;-)

On the other side of the world, there has been another survey conducted by Strategy Analytics & ABI Research. They forecast there’ll be 6.5 million NFC-enabled mobile phones sold this year, that’s 10 fold up from last year. But the growth has been stalled by the high cost for the extra chip needed in phones for data security, so NFC is likely to remain largely limited to trial phase this year.

Like what the research team said in a statement: "The shortfall is attributed to the slow ecosystem build-out, a half-hearted effort, at best, even though there is visible progress in overcoming the technical and standardization challenges.” If you’re interested to find out what are others security concerns in mobile payment, then read on my previous post here at PA.

But the use of mobile phones as replacement of carrying a thick & bulky wallet, is not limited to the NFC technology above. If you may recall, I’ve posted before here at PA about an iPhone users named Albert W. Alberts; who has used his iPhone to digitally replicate his membership cards and view them in full display using the crisp-clear iPhone’s screen. Although so far he hasn’t successfully use his credit card as digital payment yet, but perhaps in the future someone can think another way to do that.

Could this be the use of mobile phones as payment is coming sooner than many (analysts, wireless carriers & mobile phone manufacturers) have predicted?

Sources are from:

• Mobile phones more important than wallets: survey (Reuters), via Switched.
• Cell Phone Still Can't Sub for Wallet (PCW Business Center)

[blogged with my Treo 750v]