UPDATE: “There’s not going to be any launch by Nokia at this event,” the company’s Damien Balsan has told NFC World. “We’re just going to be discussing NFC with ecosystem actors and developers.”

A meeting of the MIT Enterprise Forum’s RFID SIG on 13 December promises “a special introductory launch by Nokia and partners in the NFC ecosystem to a major new initiative in US mobile network services capabilities including ‘contactless payment’.”

“Program Moderator for this is Damien Balsan, NFC Product Marketing Manager for Nokia,” the event details continue. “Attendees at this event are encouraged to apply for NFC developer kits that will be made available to qualified participants.”

Last week, Xavier des Horts, Nokia France’s head of PR, revealed that a firmware upgrade for the company’s C7 smartphone enabling it perform tag reading and pairing functions will be available from early 2011. All new Nokia smartphones and MeeGo devices will also include NFC from 2011 — but this could be the first time that Nokia openly discusses its plans for mobile payments.

Tickets for the RFID SIG event cost US$20. Readers can register to attend the event here.

UPDATE 2: MIT Enterprise Forum has now updated its website to show that Nokia will not in fact be announcing any new NFC initiatives at this event.

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