Isis mobile payment system delayed in trial cities

We're a little further from Isis' "near" field communication
We're a little further from Isis' "near" field communication

Isis is more like "Is-not" in trial cities Salt Lake City, Utah and Austin, Texas. The NFC mobile payment system backed by Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile was supposed to roll out to these two locations by the end of the summer, but it is now delayed.

Saying that there's no one reason for the delay, Isis head of marketing Jaymee Johnson told FierceMobileContent, "I would characterize where we are as checking items off the punch list."

Isis compatible with 'Big Red' and T-Mobile

Naturally, the Isis mobile wallet app will be compatible with yet-to-be-announced Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile devices.

Sprint, not surprisingly, is the only major U.S. carrier missing from the "Isis Ready" carrier list, as it's not part of the joint venture.

Ensuring your mobile payments aren't available to everyone (i.e. thieves), Isis boasts a Wallet PIN for security and allows you to remotely suspend your account if your phone is stolen.

All of these features are available from Isis' NFC competition, Google Wallet, which launched one year ago this month. But the carrier-backed mobile payment system has time; Apple didn't jump on the NFC bandwagon with the iPhone 5 announcement.

Via FierceMobileContent

Matt Swider