Isis

Headquarters: 
United States

The Isis joint venture, formed by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA, seeks to use the combined market clout of three major U.S. mobile carriers to roll out NFC phones and services.

The telcos are building a uniform platform for their NFC-based Isis wallets, which would be loaded with payment, couponing, ticketing and other contactless-mobile applications.

The joint venture, announced in November 2010, had originally planned to launch its own payment scheme at the physical point of sale in the United States, taking on payment giants Visa Inc. and MasterCard Worldwide.

But by early May 2011, the joint venture confirmed it had abandoned that plan. Isis had found signing up merchants a tough slog and their business case for rolling out an Isis-branded payment service became increasingly tenuous after the U.S. Congress passed legislation mandating lower merchant fees on debit transactions, the so-called Durbin Amendment.

In the months leading up to its change of course, Isis had already been pushing the message that it was open to a variety of service providers for its wallet.

And in July 2011, the joint venture announced agreements with the four major U.S. payment networks, including Visa and MasterCard, which said they would support the Isis wallet. The deals, however, aren’t exclusive and the payment networks could work with other NFC wallet providers, such as Google, or, in the case of Visa, continue to advance their own wallets.

But the agreements will help Isis recruit more banks and other payment issuers for the Isis wallets. The announcement also helped Isis to win back some respect in the fast emerging U.S. mobile-payments ecosystem. Abandoning the plans for a new payment scheme had caused the Isis mark to lose a bit of its sparkle.

The other networks forging agreements with Isis are American Express and Discover Financial Services.

Discover was already working directly with Isis, back when the telcos planned to introduce their own payment brand. Discover would have served as the sole retail acceptance network for Isis applications. With the new agreement, Discover probably will issue its own Zip contactless application on Isis phones. But a Discover spokeswoman said its role will be “processing mobile payments that run over the Discover network. Readers at the POS will be ZIP-enabled.”

Besides enabling payment by other issuers, the Isis telcos also plan to enable merchants and consumer products companies to deliver coupons and other mobile promotions to subscribers’ phones, among other applications.

Instead of earning merchant transaction revenue, Isis intends to charge fees from banks and other service providers for hosting their applications on the Isis NFC phones. It also will charge fees from advertisers for delivering the coupons and other offers to consumers.

And members of the Isis JV, such as AT&T, plan to introduce their own NFC services

In February of 2012, Isis announced its first three banking issuers, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard US, which plan to launch credit, debit or prepaid cards for the joint venture's planned two-city trial planned for Salt Lake City, Utah, and Austin, Texas. American Express later said it would participate in the Isis Wallet, but Barclaycard US is delaying its participation. 

Plans called for the two-city trial to begin in early to mid-2012; then the launch was moved back to the end of summer. And in September 2012, Isis announced a delay in the pilot until at least October 2012.

Key NFC Personnel: 
Michael Abbott, CEO
Ryan Hughes, chief marketing officer
Jim Stapleton, chief sales officer
Scott Mulloy, CTO
Ed Busby, chief commerce officer
Jaymee Johnson, head of marketing
John Theiss, VP, merchant sales
Major NFC and Contactless competitors: 
Last Updated: 
Sep 2012
Author: 
Balaban

HEADLINE NEWS

Australian Transit Agency to Launch Mobility-as-a-Service Trial as It Pursues Long-Term MaaS Strategy

Plans by Transport for New South Wales, Australia’s largest transit agency, to launch a trial enabling users to plan, book and pay for multimodal rides is the next step toward the agency’s long-ter

Updated: U.S. Transit Agency Seeks to Reduce–Though Not Eliminate–Cash Acceptance with New Fare-Collection System

Updated: The Spokane Transit Authority in Washington state confirmed that its new fare-collection system will include contactless open-loop payments–with a beta test planned for next October, a spokesman told NFC Times' sister publication Mobility Payments.

UK Government Seeks to Bring London-Style Contactless Fare Payments System to Other Regions

The UK government’s plan to equip 700 rail stations over the next three years to accept contactless open-loop payments is a major initiative, as it seeks to replicate the success of London’s contactless pay-as-you go fare payments system elsewhere in the country–a goal that has proved elusive in the past.

More Cities in Finland Expected to Move to Open-Loop Fare Payments

A fourth city in Finland is beginning to roll out contactless open-loop payments, with “more in the pipeline,” according to one supplier on the project, making the Nordic country one of the latest hotspots for the technology.

Moscow Metro Expands Test of ‘Virtual Troika’ in Pays Wallets, as It Continues to Develop Digital-Payments Services

Moscow Metro is recruiting more users to test its “Virtual Troika” card in two NFC wallets, those supporting Google Pay and Samsung Pay, as one of the world’s largest subway operators continues to seek more ways for its customers to pay for rides.

Ohio Transit Agency Expects Significant Revenue Loss as it Builds Equity with Fare Capping

The Central Ohio Transit Authority, or COTA, officially launched its new digital-payments service Monday, including a fare-capping feature that the agency estimates will cost it $1.8 million per year in lost fare revenue, the agency confirmed to Mobility Payments.

Special Report: Interest Grows in ‘White-Label EMV’ for Closed-Loop Transit Cards

As more transit agencies introduce open-loop fare payments, interest is starting to grow in use of white-label EMV cards that agencies can issue in place of proprietary closed-loop cards for riders who don’t have bank cards or don’t want to use them to pay fares.

Swedish Transit Agency Launches Express Mode Feature for Apple Pay, though Most Ticketing Still with Barcode-Based App

Skånetrafiken, the transit agency serving one of Sweden’s largest counties, announced today it has expanded its contactless open-loop payments service to include the Express Mode feature for Apple Pay.

Major Bus Operators in Hong Kong Now Accepting Open-Loop Payments–Adding More Competition for Octopus

Two more bus operators in Hong Kong on Saturday launched acceptance of open-loop contactless fare payments, with both also accepting QR code-based mobile ticketing–as the near ubiquitous closed-loop Octopus card continues to see more competition.

Moscow Metro Launches Full Rollout of ‘Face Pay;’ Largest Biometric Payments Service of Its Kind

Touting it as the largest rollout of biometric payments in the world, Moscow Metro launched its high-profile “Face Pay” service Friday, as expected, and predicted that 10% to 15% would regularly us

Indonesian Capital Seeks to Expand to Multimodal Fare Collection and MaaS

Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, whose metropolitan area is home to more than 30 million people, is notorious for its stifling traffic congestion. In response, the government metro and light-rail networks and now it is funding an expansion of the fare-collection system to enable more multimodal payments and to build a mobility-as-a-service platform.

Exclusive: NFC Wallets Grow as Share of Contactless Fare Payments and Not Only Because of Covid

Transit agencies that have rolled out open-loop contactless payments are seeing growing use of NFC wallets to pay fares, as Covid-wary passengers see convenience in tapping their phones or wearables to pay.