The Isis mobile commerce network, announced last November, seemed like a bold attempt by wireless carriers to edge out credit companies, says Venture Beat. Now the carriers behind Isis — AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile — are looking to partner up with Visa and MasterCard, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The carriers behind Isis are desperate to get a mobile payment system going sooner, rather than later.
Instead of the carriers building their own payment network from scratch, which would have allowed them to collect fees with every transaction, they’re looking to create a “mobile wallet” that would store consumers’ existing credit card information.
Sources familiar with the situation tell the WSJ that it would have been too difficult for the carriers to build their own network. Discover — the original partner to handle payments for Isis — is still on board with the revamped plans, an Isis representative tells the WSJ. A pilot with the Utah Transit Authority and cell phone carriers, won’t happpen until early to mid-2012. It will allow people to pay by tapping an electronic fare reader with an Isis-enabled phone.
Meanwhile, Google is working with MasterCard and Citigroup to embed NFC technology in smartphones. Google’s Nexus S smartphone already has an NFC chip. Google’s move is part of its quest to sell ads and other services to local retailers. Retailers will also be equipped to accept purchases from Isis devices.
Isis will face stiff competition over the next few years. Google just recently joined the NFC Forum and has teamed up with MasterCard and Citigroup to embed the technology in phones.
As the WSJ notes, the move towards a mobile wallet will put the carriers directly in competition with mobile manufacturers over where secure payment data is stored. Carriers want to store that information on SIM cards, while device makers would rather keep it directly on the phone, or on the non-removable NFC chip.
Related Dailywireless articles include; Salt Lake City: First Mobile Payment City in US, Mobile Payment Spreading, Visa: Near Field Communications, iPhone NFC?
