It’s been a long, long time since I last wrote about near-field communication, a technology that makes all kinds of mobile phone transactions possible. For the past couple of years, it’s been lying low in a number of international trials. But it never seemed to make any real progress in the United States. Until now.

Isis, a new NFC-based payment service. And joining them are Nokia, Google, Apple, Discover, and Barclaycard US. With this many major players, something is going to happen, and potentially something huge.

Nokia recently confirmed that the newly-launched C7 already has the NFC chip built-in, and would be leveraged sometime next year through a Software Update. Google has announced that Gingerbread, Android’s next software update, will include support for NFC. And Apple has reportedly hired its own NFC expert.

Isis is expected to roll out in 18 months to “key geographic markets.”

Verizon, ATandT, T-Mobile Join to Launch Isis NFC Payment Service

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