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It may be hard to remember, but there was a time when Amazon wasn’t the largest retailer in the U.S. When the company first started selling books online in the 1990s, it had a big hurdle to overcome: getting people to feel comfortable providing their credit card information over the web.One solution that emerged is the digital wallet. A digital wallet is software that allows an e-commerce retailer or a payment service like PayPal to securely store your credit card or bank information. When you’re ready to buy, you don’t need the card in hand. You can unlock your payment with a password. Now that smartphone apps like Google Pay and Apple Pay bring the convenience of a digital wallet to mobile payments at the physical checkout, we could be on our way to a completely cashless economy. We are experiencing trial and error in mobile payment tech. The technology that powers mobile payments, near-field communication (NFC), has been in development since the 1980s. It’s the technology that allows your phone to communicate with a card reader when held at a very close range. The history of mobile payment companies is littered with dead ends. Of the eight ways to pay with your mobile phone listed in a 2011 article, about half no longer exist or are so obscure that you’ve probably never heard of them. In 2003, Mastercard launched Paypass (later Mastercard Contactless), an NFC-enabled credit card that you could tap instead of swipe. In little more than a decade, the tap card had been phased out, folded into Google Wallet (now Google Pay), illustrating the trend toward consolidation in the digital wallet space. The early proliferation of different NFC payment systems presented a problem for brick-and-mortar stores and restaurants. Customers might be willing to create digital wallets by entering their credit card information at a dozen different e-commerce websites. They’re less likely to adopt several different mobile payment systems to accommodate the needs of different brick-and-mortar retailers, so the emergence of dominant mobile payment systems with cross-compatibility was necessary for broad adoption of digital wallets in the offline world.U.S. retailers have been much slower to adopt this technology than their counterparts in Europe, Japan and elsewhere. While many grocery stores and large chains have installed NFC-enabled readers at checkout, most small shops still don’t have NFC-enabled readers. Convenience and security drive adoption of digital payment systems. Mobile-payment apps are hard to hack. They provide a higher level of security than plastic credit cards, which can be stolen and counterfeited. For consumers who are already carrying a smartphone, digital wallets reduce the chance of a lost or stolen credit card by letting you leave it at home. As a bonus, paying with your phone is quicker than inserting your card (and who has an extra 10 seconds these days?). Digital payment technology has facilitated the rise of the gig economy. With apps like Venmo and PayPal, the means to accept electronic payments are easily accessible to even the smallest entrepreneurs. Will hard currency disappear? As online shopping and mobile payment technology make electronic payments more convenient, cash is the big loser. A 2014 Bankrate survey found that almost half of the respondents carried either no cash or less than $20. In answer to a 2016 Gallup poll, only 24% reported making most purchases with cash, compared to 36% in 2011. The ease of accepting payments through a smartphone with services like Square has made it possible to pay with credit at places that were traditionally cash only, such as street fairs and farmers markets. Even a few enterprising homeless people have begun accepting donations via credit card. In Stockholm, Sweden, where a cashless society is fast becoming a reality, the homeless people who sell Situation Sthlm were given card readers in 2013.

Without cash in our pockets, the places where we traditionally dropped a few coins or a couple of dollars suffer, including buskers, church collection plates and employees who rely on cash tips. Groups that have traditionally received cash donations are scrambling to rethink the way they collect funds. Cash has its downsides. It’s tempting for thieves and easily transferable. Once you lose cash, it’s gone forever. The bills in your wallet are a finite resource -- once they’re gone, you’re out of money if you don’t have a digital or plastic backup. Cash isn’t likely to disappear any time soon, but e-commerce has helped put digital wallets squarely in the comfort zone for most consumers. Among millennials, electronic payment is a no-brainer, so someday, probably sooner than we expect, the only cash in your pocket will be virtual dollars in a digital wallet.

Answer 1

The retailer giant Amazon had a humble beginning with selling books online in 1990s.one difficult challenge faces by the company was to make customers comfortable with sharing the confidential information about credit card online.One solution to the problem was the use of digital Wallet which allows to securely store bank and credit card information with the help of password.

with the development of services like Google pay and apple pay, we are moving towards a cashless economy. The technology which enabled the use of the Our phone to communicate with a card reader when held at a close range ( Near field communication) was developed in the 1980's.

The history of mobile payments companies is littered with dead ends because many of the old payments don't exist anymore. For example,paypass launched by master card which customers could tap instead of swipe has been phased out and folded into Google wallet.

Customers found it tiring to adopt different mobile payment systems to accomodate the needs of different brick-and-mortar retailers and this situation led to the emergence of dominant mobile payment systems with cross-compatibility. However, US retailers were rather slow in adopting the new technology.

Mobile- payment apps provide many benefits- they are convenient, hard to hack , highly secure , won't be stolen and make payments quick.As a result, cash payments are becoming very less.Even donations are accepted via credit cards.

Still, cash won't disappear very soon.But consumers are getting more comfortable with the use of digital wallets. The day on which we will only carry digital wallet with virtual dollar is not so far.