NFC permits short-range wireless connections between an electronic reader and a chip in a card or a mobile phone. It has already been used for five years in Japan, with 26 million subscribers to NTT DoCoMo' Osaifu-Keitai ("Wallet Mobile") system deducting the cost of subway tickets, taxis and restaurants from pre-payment accounts.

The Danal system in South Korea is broadly similar, except users don't have to pre-pay. They can add the charges to their monthly phone bills. Bank of America and Visa are testing NFC payments in New York, and Orange is planning to sell half a million NFC-equipped phones this year in France alone.

But amidst all the excitement, I cannot help but wonder if the spin doctors are getting a bit over excited. Whilst it might be great (or not) that McDonalds is planning to install thousands of readers, the simple fact remains that agreement has yet to be reached on common standards. Visa and MasterCard are both vying for the new market with their rival payWave and PayPass systems respectively. And Apple may well be introducing a rival system.

No doubt there will be lots of press coverage, but whilst the early adopters may rush in, I suspect that it will be 2014 at the earliest before NFC has any major impact on payment processes and the real world of business. Indeed, there is no guarantee that it will take off at all.