Mobile World Congress kicked off with Visa announcing a partnership with Samsung that will result in the Visa payWave Mobile Wallet App making its way onto the next generation of Samsung smart phones.

The multinational financial services corporation did not disclose any specifics on exactly which next generation Samsung smart phones would feature the mobile app, nor whether it would be made available to all network carriers; particularly those in the United States.

However, it has been suggested that the Galaxy S IV – set for unveiling March 14th – will be one of the first Samsung smart phones to feature Visa payWave as a result of this new partnership, according to The Verge.

As part of the Visa Ready Program, Samsung customers will be offered the ability to associate any Visa card to the secure NFC element in their smart phones for mobile payments – not just banks, but manufacturers and carriers as well.

payWave does accommodates cards other than those by Visa, a technology that the company had licensed to both Google Wallet and ISIS, though Visa suggested that the other major credit card companies would be on their own when it comes to getting their payment solutions on to Samsung’s phones.

Ovum, a provider of independent, objective analysis, commented that the Samsung/Visa agreement will bring more financial institutions on board – and given that Visa is a trusted payment brand and Samsung a top smart phone manufacturer – it’s a significant agreement that could give NFC a much-needed boost.

This is desperately needed as for most consumers, mobile payments – let alone NFC – is simply not on their radar. In Ovum’s latest Consumer Insights survey, consumers were asked to rank their most frequently applications, while mobile commerce related applications were very low down on their list compared to mobile games, email, and social networking.

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