Pilot Test by Isis JV Beginning 2012

Isis, created by three American operators AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless has just announced a pilot test on mobile services (payment, customer loyalty, vouchers, transportation, etc.) in Salt Lake City to be conducted during the first semester 2012.

For these tests, Isis also partnered with the transportation network Utah Transit Authority, to allow passengers to pay for fares with their phones using Isis.

Last minute: On the 4th of May, the Wall Street Journal announced that Isis’s ambitions have been revised. In fact, they now intend to simply create a mobile wallet containing existing card coupons’ identifiers. Discussions with large schemes are currently in progress (among these schemes: MasterCard and Visa) in order to define the mobile payment standard.

• American Express and Visa recently made strategic investments in innovative m-payment companies (see “Players’ Strategies”) and provided for the enhancement of mobile payment standards and cinematic. Telecom operators are new entrants in the payment business and might be late here. Their initial plan to create their own network and be in charge of the cardholders’ payments has been dropped.
• The American operator Sprint Nextel does not take part in the Isis pilot test but also announced new mobile services for end 2011. In 2010, this mobile operator launched the “Mobile Wallet” application for online purchases.
  Isis was created in November 2010 and consists in an exclusive cooperative process in the telecom sector. In France, the
• Payment Institution Buyster should be made operational by the end of the year.

See November 2010 Watch