RIM have confirmed that devices shipping later this year will include support for Near Field Communications, NFC, providing the ability to wirelessly exchange business cards, BlackBerry Messenger invitations, perform mobile payments and more.

So what is NFC exactly? Essentially Near Field Communications is a development of the RFID radio tag system and is used in "contactless" payment systems such as MasterCard PayPass and Visa PayWave, it's also used in ticket systems such as OysterPass on the London Underground.
The standard defines two types of device: a "reader" (active) and a "tag" (passive). Readers can send and receive information, whereas tags can only send information. Most NFC chips can operate in both modes. The technology uses low power radio signals in the 13.56MHz frequency band. When placed approximately 4cm apart, the radio signal from the reader device causes an electric current to flow through the aerial in the tag, activating a circuit. Essentially the two devices form the two coils of a transformer, but a read-only tag cannot perform any actions without the presence of a reader device. Once the circuit is complete, data can then be exchanged between the two. In the example of the PayWave system, the reader will ask the tag for its credit card number and expiry date, which is stored in its chip. The data connection can then be closed simply by moving the devices apart.
NFC provides a wealth of applications for point-of-sale information, advertisements, information booths as well as inter-device information exchange such as business card or contact information exchange.

From looking at the announcements on the BlackBerry Developer Blog and the Inside BlackBerry Blog, it is evident that this isn't the only feature which will be available in the next release of the BlackBerry device software, version 6.1.

Other new features will include:

• Support for Magnetometer devices (hardware-dependent), or a "Digital Compass"
• Augmented Reality integration, allowing you to use your device camera and GPS to obtain and overlay information about your current location on screen
• OpenGL support for enhanced mobile gaming graphics

Other sources on the Internet have also alleged that new features may also include:

• HD video recording and playback (720p) (hardware-dependent)
• Voice-enabled universal search
• Greater home screen customisation options
• Enhanced virtual keyboard
• More powerful multi-tasking
• Music store application, integrated with BlackBerry Messenger
• Improvements to BlackBerry Protect, enabling you to remotely locate, lock and wipe your BlackBerry device via your web browser, as well as perform full device backups and restorations over the air, not to mention an over-the-air version of the Device Switch Wizard
• Tabbed web browsing
• Enhanced version of Documents To Go for mobile document management
• 

  WiFi mobile hotspot (hardware-dependent)

• BlackBerry ID integration, providing you with a single username and password to access all of RIM's services (AppWorld, BlackBerry Protect, etc)

Watch this space for more information.