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After all, since more than a quarter of the people on the planet already carry cell phones, and hundreds of millions are joining them every year, why should they bring along credit and debit cards when a mobile device can make payments just as well? This is not new, in fact this is already a reality in Japan, where NTT DoCoMo Inc. says 3 million cell phone subscribers use its Mobile Wallet service to buy things at 20,000 stores and vending machines.

The new trick comes from a small technology company named C-Sam Inc. recently succeeded in launching its OneWallet cell phone platform with corporations in the United Arab Emirates, India and Japan.

In the United Arab Emirates, OneWallet is being marketed by U.A.E. Exchange as a convenience to that nation’s huge work force of expatriates from India who regularly wire money home. So far, there are about 400 users.

Alphonso Francis, a Bombay native who works for U.A.E. Exchange in Dubai, sends money three times a month to his family in India.

Using OneWallet on his phone, he enters his PIN number and designates which account the funds should come from, the recipient, and whether it should go to a bank account or a Western Union-type outlet in India. The order is transmitted over the cell phone’s Internet connection in seconds.

The phone would supplant not only credit and debit cards, but also checkbooks, Web sites, computer programs such as Quicken and online bill payment services such as PayPal or CheckFree.

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