“It’s still very early days for mobile payments and we know [it] will take time to build a mobile commerce ecosystem, but we’re very committed to this goal and are encouraged by the progress we’ve made to date,” says the search giant, as it makes unlocked Galaxy Nexus NFC phones available for US$399.

Google has reconfirmed its commitment to its NFC payments and offers platform in an update from the Google Wallet team that details the latest merchants to sign up for the service and provides information on the availability of NFC phones with official support for app:

This week, we’re excited to say that Sprint launched three new phones that support Google Wallet including the Galaxy Nexus, LG Viper 4G LTE and LG Optimus Elite. And today, we (Google) announced the unlocked Galaxy Nexus — blog post for more information. On the merchant partner side, we’re working hard to launch new Wallet marketing campaigns — the most recent examples are Pinkberry and Walgreens/Duane Reade. We were also encouraged by the findings of a recent Pew study in which 65 percent [of] respondents believe that using a smartphone as a form of payment will become widely adopted by the end of the decade. It’s still very early days for mobile payments and we know will take time to build a mobile commerce ecosystem, but we’re very committed to this goal and are encouraged by the progress we’ve made to date.

An unlocked Galaxy Nexus NFC phone can now be ordered direct from Google for the first time, for just US$399. The phones come with Google Wallet pre-installed, along with a US$10 credit. Phones can only be shipped to US addresses for now but Andy Rubin, Google’s senior vice president of mobile and digital content, explains on the Google Mobile blog that “we hope to bring it to more countries soon.”