It was a busy weekend for news here in North Carolina, with the Democratic National Convention getting ready to start in Charlotte, college football kicking off across the state, Labor Day sales and activities, and of course the usual run of crime, weather, and local stories.

So what did the family of four adults sitting near me in a public space choose to talk about as they shared the Raleigh News & Observer?

The article on mobile phones replacing credit cards.

These folks didn’t seem like techies from the Research Triangle, either, but middle-aged Middle Americans who saw tech-driven innovation as something relevant to their everyday lives.

Reports that consumer interest in electronic payments has been limited to date may be accurate, but that may be more about awareness of the technology than resistance to it.

Anecdotes are worth what they’re worth, and this one is pretty thin on background information. But when a couple in their 70s are talking with some excitement about a better way to pay at Walmart, you have to wonder if the moment for mobile payments is upon us.