Visa certifies smartphones for NFC payments

Early December 2011 several major telecoms 'blessed' NFC. January 2012 VISA has certified several smartphones for NFC payments. The move towards one standard continues.
In the NFC mobile payments ecosystem there are number of players that need to turn their key for it to work:

1. Telecoms
2. Credit card companies and banks
3. Phone OEMs
4. Consumers
5. Retailers

Last two will be the longest to adopt new ways of making payments. Retailers need to be convinced additional investments into NFC point of sales will increase sales or reduce costs or fraud. NFC does not offer that value today. Consumers are using credit cards conveniently today and anything else has yet to prove to be better.