Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide appear to be stepping up the pace of NFC phone certifications as they gear up for the launch of more mobile-payment rollouts this year.
The payment networks had certified at least 25 NFC phones between them as of mid-May, including high-end handsets that are not yet on the market, such as the Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE, as well as the mid-range Nokia Lumia 610.
The payment schemes hire labs to test the phones for consistent performance and security to run their respective contactless applications, Visa payWave and MasterCard PayPass.