Approximately 100 million NFC-enabled mobile devices are expected to ship globally in 2012, according to a new report from Forrester.

The report, “NFC: What Lies Beyond Contactless Payments,” predicts that the increasing number of NFC mobile phones, coupled with a growing NFC infrastructure, will cause NFC to emerge as the standard for contactless solutions across the world – namely in South Korea, Poland, Turkey, the U.K., the U.S. and France.

However, mass-market consumer adoption of NFC will require extensive education efforts on the consumer end, as well as an appeal to merchants beyond just the “speed and convenience” of NFC. According to the report, this should come in the form of value added services that benefit both consumers and merchants.

“We expect NFC usage to remain niche in 2012 and even 2013,” commented report author Thomas Husson. “However, moving forward, NFC will be embedded in most smart phones — and in a greater range of connected devices — enabling many more use cases than just contactless payments.”

According to Husson, the key long-term driver for NFC is that it can enable many new product and service experiences beyond just mobile contactless payments. These include transport ticketing, loyalty and rewards, authentication and ID, and “immersive marketing.” Husson predicts that NFC will also expand into other consumer and workforce connected devices, facilitating content and app sharing and cross-device experiences.

Click here to access the report.