Photo

Reuters Photojournalism

Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography.  See more | Photo caption 

Photo

Down in the mines

A look inside the mines of Poland's state-controlled JSW company, the biggest coking coal producer in the European Union.  Slideshow 

Photo

Inside Ariel Castro's house

Inside the Cleveland home of Ariel Castro.  Slideshow 

Sponsored Links

Isis eyes nationwide mobile payments launch this year

Related Topics

NEW YORK | Tue Jul 30, 2013 10:02pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Isis, a venture of three of the top U.S. mobile providers, said on Tuesday it would expand its much-delayed mobile payments service nationwide later in 2013 after it tested the concept with consumers in two markets.

Isis, formed by Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc and T-Mobile US, is a so-called mobile wallet service that allows consumers to make payments by waving their phone at a check-out terminal, instead of using a plastic card.

The Isis wallet uses a short range wireless technology known as near field communication (NFC) technology that will also let consumers redeem coupons and present loyalty cards "with a tap of their smartphone."

While mobile payment services are long-established in other countries including Japan, they have been slow to take off in the United States as they require retailers to install new equipment and cooperation between banks, wireless providers, handset makers and credit card companies.

When Isis launched its two test markets -- in Austin, Texas, and Salt Lake City, Utah -- last year, the service had already been delayed by several months. It had initially hoped to launch services in the first half of 2012, but then changed its launch target to the summer and again to October.

Isis said that about 20 million consumers already have smartphones with NFC technology and that 25 of the top 100 national U.S. retailers have installed or are in the process of installing the contactless terminals its service would require.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Ken Wills)

 
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (1)
NortonTent wrote:
I find this news about Isis exciting. As a merchant I was initiated into mobile payments when I used mPowa’s card reader (http://goo.gl/L03lj) at festivals last year. I would like to see some NFC action real soon!

Aug 01, 2013 2:07pm EDT  --  Report as abuse