NFC Still 'Years Away' From Mass Use

Mass adoption of NFC mobile payment systems is still "years away", according to a report by analysts at Forrester Research. 

This is despite the fact that the company anticipates NFC-capable devices to ship in their millions this year. "Adding new players and technologies like NFC to an already complex and evolving value chain is a recipe for disruption in many forms," says Forrester analyst Thomas Husson. 

With new entrants expected to arrive in the space, such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google, new partnerships will form to offer mobile payment options, says Husson. The first mass showcase of contactless mobile payments will be the 2012 Olympics, but true cross-market expansion and interoperability is not expected before 2013-2015, he says. 

Husson argues in his blog that NFC is not yet ready for mass adoption, because consumer demand is currently "non-existent". This means that merchants require motivation to push the technology to consumers, and stakeholders still need time to finalise viable business models. 

You can read Thomas Husson's full blog on the topic here.