According to reports this week, Google is planning a move into m-commerce with a possible launch later this year. The strategy would be underpinned by deploying near field communication (NFC) technology. This follows the news last month that the latest version of the Android OS will support NFC, as does Google’s flagship, the Samsung-manufactured Nexus S smartphone. The search giant is, of course, far from being the only contender in the nascent mobile payment market. Handset vendors want in on the action too. Nokia says all new smartphones introduced this year will support NFC, while RIM is considering offering the technology on BlackBerrys in the near future. Mobile operators do not want to feel left out. Just before Christmas, Orange announced a major rollout of NFC technology across its European markets, shortly after three leading US operators – AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile – confirmed a mobile commerce joint venture called Isis.

And these are just some of the public announcements and comments in recent months from the most high profile names. Many smaller players are also plotting their NFC strategies. And then there are the rumours about the possible involvement of other companies which have yet to show their hands, most notably Apple. It’s been thought for some time that Apple will support NFC in a future version of the iPhone, although it has yet to make a statement on the subject.

However, it’s not clear how the various initiatives will actually knit together, if at all. It’s conceivable, for example, that a single Android smartphone could include rival payment systems offered by Google, the hardware vendor behind the smartphone as well as a network operator. Not everyone is in the same situation. Assuming it does eventually adopt NFC technology then Apple and its ability to run its own closed system will probably manage the end-to-end process better than most. It will likely be an exception.

The leading players could skirmish with one another for some time before a dominant system emerges. Meanwhile, there is a possibility that the potential audience becomes worn out by countervailing claims with the result that convincing them to adopt NFC-based services will take several more years than originally planned.

Too dire a prognosis? Possibly. But so far only one significant group has not been included in the growing industry excitement over NFC, and that’s end-users. Or rather what is not being considered is the impact on them of having to comprehend a new technology and absorb a slew of information about multiple interpretations of NFC before making a final choice of which service to adopt. If the industry still manages to convince millions of users to adopt NFC technology then that would be a cause for excitement.