Mobile payments venture Isis flames out before launch

What started as a grandiose plan for a nationwide mobile commerce network has been scaled down to nothing more than a mobile wallet. Those who were expecting Isis, the venture from AT&T Mobility (T), T-Mobile USA Inc. (DTEGY) and Verizon Wireless (VZ), to give the likes of Visa Inc. (V) and MasterCard Inc. (MA) a run for their money, have come up incredibly short. Indeed, the original aspirations of the entire venture appear to have flamed out rather abruptly, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Not even six months after formally announcing the formation of the company, its mission and the hiring of its leader, Isis is reportedly abandoning plans to build a proprietary payment network with Discover Financial Services (DFS) and Barclays Plc (BARC) and has since approached Visa and MasterCard and others to encourage them to get involved with the new mobile wallet initiative.
To be fair, while Isis CEO Michael Abbott said the mobile commerce network would be the venture’s core offering, he also mentioned plans 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.”