Amidst the ruckus caused by Apple's exclusion of NFC from its new iPhone, payment providers are moving forward with the technology as an enabler for mobile transactions. Today, payment brand MasterCard released a new software development kit making it easier for issuers, mobile operators and developers to create apps using MasterCard's PayPass NFC technology.

"Consumers are gaining comfort and familiarity with mobile and contactless payments, requiring the financial institutions and mobile network operators that offer these services to ensure a consistent and positive experience," said Mung Ki Woo, group executive for mobile at MasterCard.

"As we continue to lead the industry with mobile and contactless payments innovations, we saw an opportunity to simultaneously help our partners and improve the overall user experience," Woo said. Our first-ever UI SDK provides smart tools and makes it easier for our partners to issue a complete contactless payment solution on mobile."

MasterCard said that before it launched its Mobile MasterCard PayPass UI SDK, companies needed a highly specialized set of skills to develop applications. The new SDK provides a programmer-friendly set of functions so developers can deliver payment apps to consumers without having to become smart card programming experts, the company said.

Even with an NFC-free iPhone, more than 70 models of smartphones have been approved by MasterCard as Mobile PayPass compatible devices. The new toolkit gives developers all the software they need to create contactless payment solutions for the Android and BlackBerry devices.

The tools help developers integrate MasterCard's PayPass technologies into a proximity payment mobile UI application, a mobile banking application or a mobile wallet application, MasterCard said.

For more stories like this, visit the NFC/Contactless research center.