Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
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The battle among mobile-payments backers to one-up each other continues as Isis, a carrier-led joint venture pushing near-field communication (NFC) technology, said on Tuesday that seven device makers have agreed to support its mobile wallet. These include handset makers HTC, LG, Motorola Mobility, RIM, Samsung Mobile, and Sony Ericsson, along with DeviceFidelity Inc., which produces micro Secure Digital (SD) cards that can slot into handsets to give them NFC capability.
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While the development appears to give Isis a leg up on Google Inc., whose NFC initiative has so far been limited to a specific handset model from Samsung, observers point out that the mobile-operator joint venture is lagging behind in other respects. For example, Google recently announced the commercial launch of its NFC payments service, while Isis has set pilots for the first half of next year in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Austin, Texas. “Google already has its wallet out there,” says Einar Rosenberg, chief executive of Narian Technologies, a developer of NFC applications. “At the end of the day, Isis is still way behind.”
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The rivalry between the wallet providers has also extended to card brands. Isis in July struck deals with American Express Co., MasterCard Inc., and Visa Inc. to include their brands in its wallet. Discover had already agreed to be part of the wallet when the venture launched. Google quickly caught up, announcing earlier this month that AmEx, Discover, and Visa would join its product. It had already included MasterCard when it unveiled its wallet in May.
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Left unsaid in the Isis announcement are hard specifics about when the manufacturers will start rolling out NFC phones, which models will carry the chips, and how many. The joint venture, which was put together last year by carrier heavyweights Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, and T-Mobile USA, tells Digital Transactions News each of the handset makers will have at least one model available for Isis payments by the time the pilots start. The start dates, it says, will not be far apart.
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The announcement is also silent about whether the phones will support wallets from suppliers other than Isis. “It will be interesting to see, as they bring these wallets to market, how open they will be,” says Rick Oglesby, an analyst at Aite Group LLC who follows mobile payments. He warns that consumers are likely to reject a product that is “locked down.”
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With its mobile-operator backing, Isis was able to more readily pull in manufacturer support than Google or a card network could do, Oglesby says. “It’s an area where [Isis] has a lot of leverage,” he says. “They have some strategic foundation they can build on and we’re starting to see that.” The inclusion of DeviceFidelity could be especially advantageous, he says, since its technology enables smart phones to operate with NFC with the insertion of a wallet-embedded SD card. The company last year also introduced a special case that allows Apple Inc.’s iPhones, which don’t have a slot for SD cards, to take them.
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Still, for all the struggles to include particular payment brands and handset makers, players like Isis and Google will face one test that will matter above the others. “Ultimately, the battle will be won on consumer adoption,” Oglesby says.
