Isis, the mobile payment system spearheaded by Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile USA, will launch its second market in Austin, Texas, reports NFC Times. It will begin in the first half of 2012.
The Near Field Communications-based contactless payment services will support point of purchase payment services as well as retailer loyalty card programs, coupons and other offers.
Salt Lake City, Utah was its first Isis U.S. launch market. In April, Isis said it had concluded an agreement with the Utah Transit Authority to accept the Isis brand from NFC phones, along with the other brands, to pay fares on buses and other transit. Isis said the trial would be followed by a rollout in the city, including at merchant locations throughout Salt Lake City.
Isis initially stated it would roll out its own NFC-based network designed to go head-to-head with traditional credit card giants Visa and MasterCard, but in May, the firm said it will instead open its system to all interested credit issuers and banks.
The competing Google Wallet will let you tap, pay and save using your phone and NFC (near-field communication) chips which transmit data to special NFC readers for a financial transaction. It is currently being field tested and will be released soon, says Google. Sprint’s Nexus S 4G and Nexus S from T-Mobile incorporate the NFC chip.
NFC isn’t just for payments. In a Portland, Oregon test market, Google provided businesses with a free placard for their windows that included an embedded NFC circuit. Waving your phone in front of the placard provides you with information about the business, generally from Google’s Place Pages. Google Wallet may take it to the next level. To buy stuff.
Google’s new mobile payment system works on select Android-based phones sold on Sprint Nextel’s network, according to a Bloomberg report. Google reportedly plans to introduce the service initially in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
The Google Prepaid Card is a virtual card that you can fund with any of your existing credit cards — no Citi MasterCard required. Google made a point of saying that the wallet would be open to other banks and service providers, along with other mobile carriers and handset makers. It remains to be seen how this plays out.
C/Net has created a FAQ on Google Wallet security.
NFC vendors in Japan are closely related to mass-transit networks, like the Mobile Suica used on the JR East rail network. Their contactless IC card technology has become the de-facto standard method for mobile payments in Japan. You can recharge your credit from your phone.
The group, which includes Telefonica SA and Everything Everywhere, a partnership between France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, will also function as a single contact for advertisers, the companies said this month. Previously, advertisers had to approach wireless carriers individually for ads deals.
Last month phone retailer Orange and transaction services firm Barclaycard launched the UK’s first contactless mobile payment service, which around 50,000 food and retail outlets now accept nationwide.
Other NFC vendors mostly in Europe use contactless payment over mobile phones to pay for on- and off-street parking in specially demarcated areas. Contactless payment using NFC runs over the same chip and PIN network as normal credit and debit card transactions, there is a payment limit on single transactions and contactless cards can only be used a certain number of times before customers are asked for their PIN number.
The mobile payment market, which was $5.2 billion in 2009, is expected to jump to $56.7 billion in 2015.
Related Dailywireless articles include; Google Wallet, Google Wallet Stolen?, Carriers Switch Electronic Wallets, Salt Lake City: First Mobile Payment City in US, Mobile Payment Spreading, Visa: Near Field Communications, iPhone NFC?
