NFC is something of a technology in the wings. We’re repeatedly saying that NFC needs a purpose, an infrastructure to get it going, especially when it comes to mobile payments and so on.

NFC is incorporated into the new Nokia N9 and we saw it in action today, making use of a couple of music accessories that Nokia will offer for the phone - a speaker and a set of wireless headphones.

Essentially, NFC is used in this case to make the Bluetooth pairing process easier. You simply offer the N9 up to the Nokia Play 360 speaker (or headphones) and an on-screen notification tells you that an NFC connection has been made, triggering Bluetooth pairing, and music playback transfers over.

But NFC isn’t really new, even though it hasn’t been seen much until 2011. We saw Parrot offer NFC speakers that worked in the same way back in 2008. Of course, NFC isn’t a new technology for Nokia either, who were engaging in trials with NFC in the Nokia 6131 NFC in 2007.  

New or not, the inclusion of NFC means that the Nokia N9 is poised to take advantage of any developments that are made on a wider stage in NFC this year, or simply for easy pairing with their speaker if not.

Be sure to check out our first impressions of the Nokia N9, including a glittering gallery of hands-on photos, and why not check out Nokia's video of the Nokia Play 360 below?