Visa has joined forces with Nokia, Verisign and IBM to launch a global mobile payment system and help spur the delivery of the long-awaited electronic wallet. The first stage of Visa?s plan will let mobile users make payments and buy goods such as groceries by swiping their handsets over a reader that electronically communicates with a microchip on the phone.

Visa?s platform - based on global technology standards developed over the past few years by groups such as the Mobile Payment Forum - will focus first on ?solutions for contactless mobile payment, OTA personalization, coupons and direct marketing.? Subsequent versions of the platform, slated to be available later this year, will include solutions for remote payment and person-to-person payment. Visa said its cards and payment systems currently generate more than $4 trillion in sales volume worldwide.