NFC technology remains center stage in the mobile world, as Google prepares to partner with MasterCard and Citigroup to bring NFC to the Android, and speculation regarding the potential marriage of NFC and the iPhone 5 runs wild. According to an article published today in the Wall Street Journal, Google is working on an Android app that would allow consumers with Citibank credit or debit cards to make payments with their mobile devices.

Google has positioned itself to cash in on the NFC craze by providing retailers with pertinent consumer information and selling targeted ads to those same consumers. While NFC offers a number of other benefits, mobile payment is the closest to being implemented in the U.S. The latest research by Mercator Advisory Group predicts 116 million NFC-enabled devices will be shipped this year, with that number increasing to 510 million by 2015.

For a more in-depth look at NFC, check out PointAbout’s latest whitepaper, “NFC: Near Field Communications – A Look Into the (Near) Future of NFC.”