Today, almost half of people in the United States has at least one smartphone. With the advent of mobile payments, customers have been emancipated from having to carry their precious money with them, seemingly trading off the wallet for the convenience of a touchscreen. Yet a new study composed by Radius Global Market Research sheds some light in the situation and tells us some interesting facts about Americans' use of mobile payments. The study shows that, while payments are secure enough, Americans are still very skeptical about these payment solutions. At least in the near future, they're probably not going to put the wallet down.

Managing Director Chip Lister, Radius, said, "There's been a lot of speculation about how quickly consumers are moving to a wallet-less existence. Based on our recent survey, it won't be anytime soon. The benefits of convenience, speed, and portability are resonating with a niche population of younger consumers. But even with this segment there are important obstacles that must be addressed before pay-by-smartphone technologies will be widely adopted as a replacement to more traditional modes of payments."

People hang onto their wallets mainly because of security concerns against mobile payments. Approximately half of all the consumers in the country say that they've got the jeepers about fraud and that influences their choice in using smartphones to make mobile purchases. On the other hand, 14 percent of all the consumers interviewed said that they're not worried about security.

Much to nobody's surprise, people under the age of 35 along with those described by the survey as "digitally savvy" are those who have the most concerns regarding fraud and security. The figures split like so: 54 percent of people younger than 35 years old express this concern, while the number climbs to 62 percent for those who are tech-savvy.

Lister added, "The more the consumers know about smartphone technology, the more they worry about the security of mobile transactions. While marketers have done a good job at promoting convenience, they will also need to boost messaging efforts to address security concerns in a way that convinces digitally savvy consumers."