undermined so many other handset-dependent mobile technology initiatives, such as broadcast mobile TV and push-to-talk. Retailers won't invest in NFC payment terminals until there are more mobile NFC users out there, and users won't buy NFC handsets or start using the technology (if already incorporated into their handsets) until there are more NFC payment terminals out there. From talking to retailers, it is clear that most are unsure about the business case for NFC. They are worried about the cost of implementation; about whether mobile NFC payments will end up being costlier than card payments; and about whether the faster transactions that NFC supposedly enables will end up making a big difference to their bottom line. The result is that most are taking a wait-and-see attitude. The good news for NFC is that some of the big vendors supplying payment terminals to retailers have embraced the technology and are making it a default feature in their new products. One of the biggest of them all, VeriFone, says that 80% of the terminals it ships now come equipped with NFC. However, even if all POS-equipment manufacturers were to follow VeriFone's example, it would not mean that all payment terminals in shops would be NFC-enabled in the immediate future. That's because the lifecycle of payment terminals tends to be between five and seven years (although some heavy-footfall retailers say that it can be as short as three years). And big retail chains with hundreds or thousands of outlets can spend two years