Google’s Eric Schmidt, while presenting at the Web 2.0 Summit had some pretty interesting this to share with the Android community.

- NFC (Near Field Communication) support will be built into Android Gingerbread

- Gingerbread will be released “in the coming weeks”

- NFC will support location information by “bumping” or “tapping” the device against an NFC enabled tag or sign

- NFC will provide information or abilities based on the type of “tag” (location, payment, etc.)

- Tap-and-pay will be supported by NFC to enable mobile payment (potentially to enable you to tap your phone against a reader to pay for something via your Google Account)

- The next major challenge to Android as a platform is with apps, being able to find them, recommend them to users, and have the quality of apps that users are looking for

Mr. Schmidt has been using an “unannounced device” with the “source of origin” taped over. It looks surprisingly like a Samsung Galaxy S-style phone. Is this the rumored Nexus S? If so, the reason Google is “partnering” with a manufacturer seems to be to have the first NFC-capable phone on the market and to push adoption of that technology.

Interestingly enough, Eric said there would never be a “Nexus Two”, but would not deny the possibility of a “Nexus S”.

What types of Near Field Communications would you like to see? What apps do you think would benefit from NFC support?