For the last few months, we’ve been hearing a see-saw tale of whether Apple will implement NFC (near field communications) technology in the next-generation iPhone. At this point in time, only speculation – no hard evidence – exists to suggest that the iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 will actually feature NFC technology. But that may soon change if Apple was paying close attention to what rival Google announced today.

On Thursday, Google announced that it’s jumping head-first into the business of mobile payments with the new “Google Wallet” program, which is rooted in NFC. Google says its hoping to fuse the retail and mobile experience together in an effort to create “tomorrow’s best shopping experience.” The services will bring together coupons and discounts and payments simultaneously when people make purchases via their mobile device.