NFC can be used for more things than just payments. You could get your monthly bus card sent to your phone instead of needing to carry a separate card. When entering the subway/bus/traingates, put your phone near the reader.
Since it works offline, it can also be of value to businesses. For instance, if you have a secure service station, you could send the rights to open the door lock to a technicians phone over the air, and set the credentials to be valid for a limited time (say a day).
Interesting that I read this article today as yesterday my bank called and said that they are sending a new debit card with this technology. I never heard the technical term of NFC before but it's been around my country for awhile under the more consumer friendly term of "touch and pay".
And BTW I live in Canada, not some European country or Japan. Why is America so slow to adopt these things?
This is all anecdotal but:
Here in the US, I got a "PayPass" NFC debit card four years ago when I opened a bank account. Even though the terminals are deployed to almost every restaurant and grocery chain near me, I've never used it. I've always paid with cash, or swiped the card. If I think about it a bit more, I don't think many local businesses accept credit or debit cards period. That probably reinforces my habit of paying for trivial purchases with cash.
Since it works offline, it can also be of value to businesses. For instance, if you have a secure service station, you could send the rights to open the door lock to a technicians phone over the air, and set the credentials to be valid for a limited time (say a day).