The NFC movement continues to heat up, though the near-term prognosis remains a bit murky.

Visa has moved forward with its NFC efforts, announcing that some smartphones are now equipped with the chipset--either built in or by SIM card--necessary to enable NFC payments. The certified phones are the Samsung Galaxy S II, LG Optimus NET NFC, BlackBerry Bold 9900, BlackBerry Bold 9790, BlackBerry Curve 9360 and BlackBerry Curve 9380.

This represents the tip of the NFC spear, so to speak, as only 150,000 retail venues in the U.S. are equipped with PayWave-enabled in-store terminals. That’s a mere sliver of the venues that use traditional terminals. But it is a start, one that pushes it past Google in the early competition. Recall that Google has suffered through a few speed bumps. Verizon, for example, nixed Google’s plans to launch the Google Wallet NFC system pre-loaded on the Galaxy Nexus. That struck many as a sign of the skirmishing to come.

But it’s clear that NFC phones-oriented systems and and non-NFC payments systems are moving head. None of the main players--Visa, Google, the ISIS consortium of telcos and others are slowing down. It would be in the best interests of all if interoperability were to reign.

On the upside, Visa has said it’s system will be compatible with the Google Wallet. Still, we may end up with distinct systems that might confuse the market place. In any case, 2012 looks like it will be a big year for mobile payments.

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