Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c79207) has announced the addition of “Mobile Payments Making Progress in North America” to their offering.

Using mobile handsets to accomplish financial transactions and purchases is starting to appear as something inevitable in the worldwide marketplace. However, we do not believe that 2008 will be the year of mobile payments. It may not even qualify as the year of trials of mobile payments; However, there is evidence that the US market may overcome a crucial issue: technology incompatibility, and make progress toward contactless payments using cellphones.

The key enabling technology will be near field communications (NFC) chips deployed into handsets as well as in merchant payment terminals.

This report includes a review of recent progress in deployment of financial services in cellphones and includes brief profiles of many of the companies involved with bringing those services to the market, particularly in the US.

This report is important for any company considering offering mobile payments and mobile financial services including operators, handset vendors, application developers, and semiconductor makers.