Isis looks to push commerce through smart phones

The national mobile commerce network being developed by AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless is still in its early stage, but it finally has a name and a leader. Isis will be led by CEO Michael Abbott, formerly with GE Capital, the companies announced.
As it builds out its technology and business model, Isis will be rolling out its service to key markets over the next 18 months with the aid of Discover Financial Services and Barclays Plc. As previously reported, Isis will use near-field communication technology to exchange encrypted information between devices at a short distance.
“Our mobile commerce network, through relationships with merchants, will provide an enhanced, more convenient, more personalized shopping experience for consumers,” Abbott said. “While mobile payments will be at the core of our offering, it is only the start. We plan to create a mobile wallet that ultimately eliminates the need for consumers to carry cash, credit and debit cards, reward cards, coupons, tickets and transit passes.”
While the new venture is using Discover’s payment infrastructure and Barclaycard’s experience in contactless payments, Isis will eventually be available to all interested merchants, banks and mobile carriers, Abbott added.
The venture is “not without competition,” as Bob Egan notes in Forbes.
He writes: “Will 2011 be the year of mobile payments? No. It will be the year of more noise – a lot more noise. While more than 230K stores support another form of mobile payments called contactless, the consumer use rate is still far less than 10% of all transactions. Including those transactions below $25.00.”