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Near Field Communication and all contactless technology

American Express and Isis have announced that AmEx plans to participate in the two large NFC pilots Isis plans to launch this summer in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Austin, Texas.

The Isis mobile operator joint venture has announced that four major point-of-sale terminal and contactless reader vendors have licensed its mobile-commerce application, as the venture gears up for its soft launch in two cities this summer.

BARCELONA – Isis, as expected, has named the first three banks planning to issue payment applications for its Isis Mobile Wallet, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard US.

2012 was going to be the year that the new era of NFC-based mobile commerce had finally arrived–with Google Wallet rolling out widely, mobile operators in the U.S. and Europe making significant inroads with their own mobile wallets and big Asian m-commerce players generally commercializing NFC, as well.

The Isis joint venture expects to have about three payment issuers when it launches NFC service in two U.S. cities next year, with JPMorgan Chase and Capital One among the likely banks, NFC Times has learned.

In a first for the U.S. market, one of the country’s largest banks plans to begin issuing dual-interface EMV cards targeted at international travelers.

Google is building a mobile wallet nicknamed "Cream," which it plans to integrate with Android NFC phones that consumers could tap to pay in stores, sources told NFC Times. Among banks showing strong interest is U.S.-based Citigroup.