Isis, the mobile payments venture of AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA, and Verizon Wireless, today unveiled the first set of retailers that will participate in beta tests in Austin and Salt Lake City.
I counted more than 50 different merchants, and Isis says the tests will involve "hundreds" of locations.
The merchants include national businesses and local retailers. National businesses include Aeropostale, Coca-Cola Company, Champs Sports, Dillard's, Foot Locker, Jamba Juice, and Macy's.
Local retailers in Austin include Ben White Florist, Book People, Brodie Park Market, Downtown Burgers, Elbe Body, Rosemary's Catering, Texenza Coffee, and University Co-Op. Salt Lake City retailers include Barbacoa Mexican Grill, Cactus and Tropicals, Deseret Book, Great Harvest Bread Company, McKay Diamond, Larry H. Miller Megaplex Theatres, Salt Lake Running Company, and the Utah Transit Authority.
The tests require phones with Near Field Communications (NFC) capability. Isis isn't yet disclosing exactly when the tests will start, but says this summer users will be able to visit cellular phone retailers to "choose from a selection of NFC-enabled devices and walk out of the store with the Isis Mobile Wallet enabled and ready to use."
The main reason Isis is different is it's a cellular operator initiative, with three of the top four U.S. operators participating. So the operators can install Isis on every phone sold. They also could provide incentives to subscribers to use mobile payments.
Also, cellular operators control the market much more than in many other countries where customers purchase GSM phones and are the habit of switching among many phones. The U.S. operators could tell harware manufacturers they want lots of phones with NFC, and the manufacturers will have to comply.
All the major credit card companies and financial institutions also are working on their various mobile payment initiatives. However, without cellular operator cooperation, subscribers will have to know about these other initiatives (e.g., a MasterCard mobile wallet) and also have to decide to download another app.
Hi Alan I hope Isis will help quell the security factor of mobile payment.Alan can you pleae explain how Isis isany different from the other players inthe market?
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