Tim Cooks Cashless Prediction In Ireland May Be More Truth Than Blarney

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Apple Inc.'s chief executive offered a forecast to Irish college students they won't soon forget. At an event on Nov. 11 at Dublin's Trinity College, Tim Cook told students, "Your kids will not know what money is."

Cook was in Dublin to receive the college's Gold Medal of Honorary Patronage of the University Philosophical Society at Trinity College. During a question-and-answer period, Cook explained that transactions will be carried out by mobile payment apps such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet. Even person-to-person monetary exchanges will be conducted by apps.

If Cook's prediction to the students in Dublin seems just a wee bit of an overstatement, it does contain a very large grain of truth. In a recent survey by Lloyd's Bank, 39% of those queried said they didn't expect to need cash within a decade. Estimates by Juniper Research show growth of payment transactions using mobile phones will jump from three billion worldwide in 2015 to more than 10 billion in 2018. There will be 1.5 billion mobile wallets in use globally by 2018, or one in five phones, Juniper predicts.

IS THAT A ROCK STAR IN THOSE SELFIES?Nope. It's just Apple chief executive Tim Cook with students at Trinity College in Dublin. Cook told the students that their children "will not know what money is." Payments by app will be the norm, he predicts.