Mobile payments step closer to broad availability
The ability to pay for goods in a store without breaking open your wallet just took a giant leap forward.
Mobile commerce company Isis announced on Tuesday that it had signed deals with the parent companies of all four major payment networks -- Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express -- paving the way for broad availability of an ecosystem that will let American consumers use their smartphones at the cash register.
Isis, a joint venture between U.S. wireless carriers Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, is the first company to sign deals with all four major financial platforms.
Its mission: accelerate mobile payments adoption.
The levers are in place to do just that. The company now has availability across all the major payment platforms, and three of the four largest companies that sell smartphones in the U.S. will offer Isis-ready phones with support for near-field communication, or NFC, technology.
The general concept is to consolidate payments for goods, coupon redemption and loyalty point accumulation in one place: your phone. A lot of puzzle pieces must be assembled to make that happen, but from the looks of things, Isis is doing the difficult partner work now so that the process is a bit more seamless for consumers when it rolls out.
Speaking of which: Isis announced earlier this year that it will launch in "the first half of 2012" in a limited fashion -- only initially in Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas.
We'll see what happens in those markets, of course, but if I can find a way to get all those thumb-sized loyalty cards off my keyring, I'll be one step closer to nirvana.
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- How mobile tech is changing the retail experience
- In the future, you can leave your wallet at home
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- Fares and the future of transit: wireless, smart and connected
- Cashless shopping: coming soon to a store near you
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com