While it will not quite achieve mass-market adoption in 2011, this year the various ecosystem players will take major steps forward to realize the vision of a mobile wallet compatible with handsets of all types.

From mobile advertising and applications to social media and near field communication, many of the channels and trends that gained momentum in 2010 will have a huge impact on the mobile commerce ecosystem in 2011.

Google has acquired Canadian startup Zetawire to enhance its Near Field Communication offerings that enable contactless mobile payments and bridge Google Checkout and point-of-sale payments.

Visa has made mobile contactless payments available commercially for various smartphones via DeviceFidelity’s In2Pay microSD platform.

Emerging alternate payments options such as mobile contactless payments need to be better, faster and cheaper than card-based methods for retailers while also giving consumers greater control in the process.

In 2011 there will be more than 50 million Near Field Communication-enabled mobile devices available commercially worldwide, according to Inside Contactless.

AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have formed a joint venture called Isis, a national mobile commerce network that will let consumers use their mobile phones to make point-of-sale purchases.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s incendiary statement that near field communication-enabled Android smartphones would be positioned to replace credit cards has sent shockwaves through the mobile commerce ecosystem.

MPayy has enabled pre-paid debit card usage on its network, letting consumers load funds to, and payments from, their pre-paid debit cards.

DALLAS – Urban Outfitters’ top executive said his company has big plans for using mobile to streamline the in-store purchasing experience during his Shop.org keynote address.