Late last year Google announced the Nexus S, the first mobile phone to be equipped with NFC (Near-field Communication) technology. We haven"t seen widespread adoption of the standard yet, but Google released a product called "Google Wallet" which is essentially a way to pay for things by just tapping your mobile to a terminal in shops. Handy, but yet to roll out.
There were a few things that were unclear, however. Google had never mentioned if it intended to bring the product to other platforms, nor did it mention when it was to launch. Today, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that Google would port their Wallet product to the iPhone, provided Apple build in the NFC support it required, according to Electronista.
He went on to say that "most vendors" planned on adding NFC to their platform, with RIM adding support to all their upcoming devices, the recently announced Nokia N9, and rumors that Windows Phone would be receiving support for NFC soon, too. Apparently LG and Sony Ericsson have said that they would add support using Android, too.
Schmidt went on to say that "as many as a third of checkouts at restaurants and stores would have NFC support within the next 12 months" and that the readers and software would be ready by the summer of 2012.