Isis Rolls Out Mobile Payments In Austin And Salt Lake City
Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
What do Austin, Texas and Salt Lake City, Utah have in common? In addition to both being noted in Business Insider’s “15 Hottest American Cities of the Future,” they’re the first two cities to try out the Isis mobile wallet system. Isis, a mobile consortium of 3 wireless carriers, has launched their mobile wallet service today on 9 NFC-enabled smartphones.
According to a statement, Isis plans to release another 11 Isis-ready smartphones by the end of the year. In an effort to quicken a future filled with mobile payments, (and likely to get an early slice of what looks to be a very promising pie) AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon launched Isis in November of 2010. Since this time, Isis has been busy working with some powerful partners and a few large retailers. Starting today, Isis users in Austin and Salt Lake can use Isis to buy running shoes at either Foot Locker or Sports Authority, then don them and make a quick jog to McDonald’s where they can pay for a milkshake with their Isis enabled NFC device. The company has also teamed up with financial heavyweights American Express, Capital One, Chase and Visa. These companies plan to make their credit and debit cards available via Isis, enabling payment via the mobile wallet app.
“The launch of the Isis Mobile Wallet is an important step toward accelerating mobile payments in the United States and maximizing convenience for consumers,” said Bill Gajda, head of mobile product for Visa, Inc in the statement.
“Isis’ open approach directly aligns with Visa’s strategy of enabling consumers to make mobile payments with whatever device they choose using the trusted accounts they already have.”
Isis also announced the first 9 phones which will be available to work with their new mobile payment system today. AT&T customers will be able to make mobile payments with this new service on the HTC One X, the LG Espace and Samsung Exhilerate, Rugby Pro and the popular Galaxy S III.
T-Mobile customers will also be able to use the Galaxy S III, as well as the S II and Relay 4G. T-Mobile is also offering the HTC 4G as an Isis-ready smartphone. Verizon customers will be able to use the new mobile payment system on their HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE. Big Red has said they will begin supporting the latest Droid Razr phones later this week. Those customers who already own one of these phones and want to start taking advantage of these new mobile payments will have to stop by their carrier to have their SIM swapped out with a new, Isis-enabled SIM. Once the new SIM is installed, users can go to the Google Play app store to download the Isis mobile wallet app. Once completed, users can begin making payments with Isis wherever contact-less payments are accepted. A full list of these Isis-compatible locations can be found at paywithisis.com, such as 7-Eleven gas stations, fast food chains and several local businesses.
Apple’s iPhone 5 was rumored to ship with an NFC chip, thus signaling the entrance of Apple into the mobile payment scene. The Cupertino company decided to go their own way with mobile payments, introducing Passbook, an application which doesn’t require NFC. According to Computerworld, since Apple hasn’t released an NFC compatible phone, many analysts are saying it will now take even longer for a national embrace of mobile payments.
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2012-10-23 04:25:39
Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1112717775/isis-mobile-payments-nfc-austin-salt-lake-102212/
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