Google has upgraded its membership of the NFC Forum, giving it a place on the organization’s board of directors.

The NFC Forum was founded in 2004 as a non-profit industry body aimed at encouraging advances in Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies. Google joined in March 2011 as a ‘Principal’ level member but is now upgrading to the top-tier Sponsor level. This means that Google now has a say in the running of the consortium.

Google clearly has an interest in the widespread promotion and adoption of NFC. Its Wallet app for Android supports contactless payments on supported handsets and although the service is currently only available in the USA, it would make sense that the company will want to expand it more widely in the future. We’ve contacted Google for further comment about its motivations behind upgrading its membership.

Google joins names like Broadcom, Intel, MasterCard, Visa, Sony, Qualcomm and Samsung as a sponsor-level member of the NFC Forum. The next all-members meeting for the consortium is scheduled for March 18-22 in Seoul, South Korea.

Image credit: AFP/Getty Images

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