It can be stated with reasonable authority that near field communications (NFC) technology plays - and will continue to play - a considerable part in the widening implementation of mobile transaction processing technology. However, according to Cult of Mac, the latter is also making itself evident without the use of the former, in a variety of permutations throughout the retail sector.

The news source reports that a notable number of mobile payment platforms that do not employ the use of NFC technology are seeing significant success. Examples include Apple retail locations, where customers who have iPhones or comparable Apple mobile devices can use them to make purchases with a quick scan of a product's barcode. Apple's upcoming Passbook mobile wallet, which is partially will also use code scanning for a variety of purchase purposes, including tickets and gift cards.

Another platform, Tabbedout, is available in a variety of restaurants and bars and uses GPS-based location services available on Apple and Android smartphones to complete purchases.

NFC-based mobile payment platforms differ from the aforementioned methods primarily due to the hardware necessary for them to be set up on both the customer's and the merchant's ends of the transaction. As a result, some businesses may, for the time being, skew toward using non-NFC methods while the technology is developed further.

However, major technology businesses such as Google and Microsoft have already put a great deal of effort behind NFC-based mobile payment programs, with Finextra reporting Microsoft as the latest firm to do so.