not until it becomes as convenient as cash
Cash is accepted everywhere, by everyone. Electronic cash has been an idea for decades, it's just not going to happen in any useful form anytime soon. We already have a form of e-cash in eftpos cards but they are unsuited for small transactions due to the percentage paid to the card companies, and they are never going to give up their revenue stream for small transactions.
These apps bypass the eftpos card companies so do not incur the percentage drain; small transactions incur a higher percentage fee than large trasactions due to minimum charges so a large top up of an app costs the app owner less than dozens of smaller charges at point-of-sale. Unfortunately the apps now fail the ubiquitousness test i.e. different app for each place. Unless there is some way to either roll all these apps into one, which would automatically create a new eftpos like company, there needs to be a way to automatically launch the correct app for where you are, add in 20-30 places, each with their own app, and you have a security nightmare.
Putting the security concerns to one side (but not ignoring the blue whale in the room) it would be possible to automatically launch an app when you get near the end of the queue, using near-field communication to trigger the correct app, although that would irritate some people checking facebook. Combine that with a pre-pincode you could enter whilst queuing i.e. i'm about to pay for something and i am who i say i am so just authorise the payment when i get there and this should speed up use dramatically to the time it takes to swipe. Shops should like it as it would reduce the time required to make change which translates to fewer staff on tills with no reduction in throughput.
Add in the ability to pre-approve certain payments e.g. your daily bus fare or starbucks and it could become more convenient than cash. Just don't expect it anytime soon.
