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The International Air Transport Association, which represents 240 airlines worldwide, plans to finish its evaluation of NFC technology this year and could propose standards to its members in October, the group has told NFC Times.

Google has upgraded its membership in the NFC Forum standards and trade group to the top rung, sponsor member, giving the search giant a seat on the 13-member board.

The NFC Forum has announced the formation of five special interest groups, which will promote NFC rollouts in payment, retail, transport, health care, and consumer electronics.

U.S.-based Qualcomm, the world’s largest supplier of processor chips to smartphone makers, has entered the NFC market–a move that could substantially expand the availability of NFC-enabled smartphones.

U.S.-based Qualcomm has joined the NFC Forum as a sponsor member, which gives it a seat on the board of the standards and trade organization.

The NFC Forum has adopted a key missing piece of its specifications program, which will enable more thorough testing to avoid interoperability problems.

Samsung Electronics' high-profile launch of branded NFC tags in the U.S. uses nonstandard technology, NFC Times has learned.

Even as the NFC Forum attempts to broaden the reach of its NFC touchpoint symbol, known as the N-Mark, rival marks are surfacing, threatening to present consumers with a fragmented array of NFC icons as the technology rolls out.

Standards organizations GlobalPlatform and the NFC Forum will focus on security issues as part of their recently announced memo of understanding, especially to ensure apps on NFC phones don’t compromise the security of secure elements in the devices.

The NFC Forum has relaxed its rules for device makers to display its N-Mark symbol on their products and also is allowing software providers to show the mark, as it seeks to broaden use of the touchpoint symbol on consumer products.