Mobile 'more crucial than wallet'

Nearly half of younger smartphone owners would rather lose their wallet than their handset, according to a survey, which the authors claim proves just how “indispensable” mobile devices are.
In the report, carried out by YouGov, 42% of 16- to 24-year-olds and 34% of 25- to 34-year-olds said it would be worse to lose their smartphone than their wallet.
Of those aged over 55, 85% said they would rather hang on to their wallet.
Overall, men were slightly more worried about losing their smartphone than their wallet, with 32% saying losing their smartphone would be worse, compared to 28% of women.
The study backs a report from MasterCard which showed 65% of 18- to 34-year-olds “feel more naked” without their phones than their wallets and 63% would be happy to use their mobile phones to make purchases.
The YouGov survey was commissioned by outsourcing firm Firstsource Solutions. Firstsource telecom and media division executive vice president Santanu Nadi said: “The fact that so many people would rather lose their wallet than their smartphone shows how indispensable these devices have become to the kind of lives we now lead.
“This information will be useful for mobile phone service providers who need to provide round the clock customer service and technical support for their ‘power users’. With half the people surveyed yet to switch over to a smartphone, their importance is only likely to increase in years to come.”
The move towards “mobile wallets” is likely to exacerbate the situation. According to Acxiom, one in five UK consumers will use their mobile phone to pay for goods and services and receive offers in realtime as soon as the technology becomes widespread.
Everything Everywhere launched the Quick Tap mobile wallet service in May, while O2 is planning to launch the O2 Wallet later this year.