Referred to as the Mobinet study, a bi-annual study looking at mobile phone use worldwide, found that 44 percent of the 5,600 users polled said they would use mobile cash (m-cash) to pay for small transactions such as transit fees or items from vending machines if they could; however, only 2 percent reported doing so.

SMS was deemed the most widely accepted mobile application, with 35 percent of respondents reported using SMS at least once a day, with once-a-day usage near 41 percent in Europe, 33 percent in Asia, and 5 percent in the U.S.

"With consumers becoming increasingly comfortable with SMS, it’s inevitable that they’ll be looking for the next new thing in mobile services," said Mitch Mitchell, A.T. Kearney’s vice president.

That being said, he predicts the next development path for SMS must be in fostering new uses through transaction-based SMS and introducing new capabilities that replicate the simplicity of SMS, such as multimedia messaging services, location-based services or enhanced messaging services.

To date only 13 percent of mobile phone users worldwide and 18 percent of users in Europe said they had used transaction-based SMS functions to download ring tones or logos for their handsets.

Paul Collins, leader of the study, encourages the industry to deliver what the public wants now or risk losing a lucrative opportunity.

"Consumer tastes in the mobile arena are fragile, so it is imperative that the community of mobile phone makers, carriers, content providers and financial services companies rally quickly to provide mobile cash capabilities before consumer interest wanes," Collins said.