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There's an interesting trend happening in mobile these days. Companies - major companies like Samsung, Motorola, Kyocera, RIM and Microsoft - are launching unfinished, unpolished products and then asking us, the consumers, to buy them based on their "potential." Despite the fact that the new BlackBerry tablet computer has no email client or wide selection of apps, or that Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 can't even multi-task, or that Android Honeycomb is only a few months old and, frankly, still a little buggy, we're expected to place our hard-earned dollars, and, in some cases, even sign multi-year mobile contracts for these gadgets, based on "what could be."

Not biting? Well, you're not alone.

Research in Motion (RIM), maker of BlackBerry smartphones, is in a battle with mobile operators over its plans to use NFC in its forthcoming devices. NFC, short for "near field communication," is a technology that will enable mobile payments and mobile wallet-type applications, allowing customers to wave or tap their phones at point-of-sale to pay for purchases. According to a report from The Wall St. Journal today, the disagreement between RIM and the carriers has to do with where the credentials for these mobile payments will be stored - on a SIM card inserted into the phone, or, as RIM would have it, in a secure area within the BlackBerry device itself.

Meanwhile, in other NFC-related news, it appears that the iPhone 5 may have NFC capabilities after all, despite earlier reports saying plans for this had been scrapped.

RIM, maker of BlackBerry smartphones and the forthcoming PlayBook tablet, has today announced a partnership with 7digital, a digital media and music store. The new store will offer over 13 million MP3 tracks from Warner Music Group, Universal, EMI and Sony and it will come pre-installed on the PlayBook as an application.

7digital, a London-based digital media delivery company, offers music, videos and audiobooks to international customers on its online download store at 7digital.com. On the PlayBook, it will offer its music priced in a user's local currency. Initially, 7digital's music store will only be available to users in the U.S. and Canada, but will roll out to other international users over the course of 2011.

(Note: Update below & new screenshot)

Research in Motion, makers of Blackberry smartphones, is now actively developing NFC-enabled (Near Field Communications) devices, according to news from NFC-tracking site, NearFieldCommunicationsWorld, which spotted a job posting for an NFC specialist.

This news comes as no surprise to industry watchers - both Apple and Google have been developing phones and systems with NFC support as of late, and RIM has publicly announced its plans to do so, too. If anything, this latest news only further proves the trend: NFC is finally happening.

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