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A new report claims that the ISIS mobile wallet service backed by the likes of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile will debut in September following a series of delays that have left many wondering just when the alternative to Google Wallet would go live. The groups behind the project changed gears when it was decided last year that credit card providers would handle payment processing as opposed to the original plan for mobile carriers to handle the exchange of money.
The news comes hours after we learned of a curious update for T-Mobile’s Samsung Galaxy S2 that appeared to enable ISIS support for NFC-based transactions. It will be interesting to see just how the various partners behind ISIS handle the launch of the platform, especially after blocking Google Wallet support on branded devices.
Update: A list of currently NFC equipped devices already approved to support ISIS can be found here and include: Samsung Galaxy S3 (all carriers), HTC Amaze 4G, HTC One X, and HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE.
[via Bloomberg | Mastercard]
Any solution like this that is controlled completely by carriers is a bad idea.
It will amount to lock-in and serve as yet another way for carriers to exert control over your mobile experience.
I’m not saying Google is the only way to go, but I definitely prefer a 3rd-party solution no matter who it is.
The carriers should stick what they do well, which is providing a dumb data pipe over which I can perform whatever operations I choose.
I dont understand why they’re so scared to become dumbpipes. It proved profitable for BT when they were forced to do the same.
I refuse to use anything that I “HAVE” to. I do believe they cant continue to lock out Google Wallet like this too. Either way its GW or nothing.
I was actually waiting for this to be released to see how this pans out for GW. I would imagine the real reason behind it being blocked is so it couldnt gain too large of a market share before ISIS came out. Now that ISIS is going to be released, if they continue to block GW, it will be a monopoly, and the carriers would face lawsuits.
If you have a GS3 there is a workaround to get GW to work on it
Carrier controlled? No way in hell!
Nowhere does it mention it’s limited to USA? so… what is it then
I believe the *ONLY* way any of these NFC payment services will really catch on will be through use of direct processing by the card issuers. Even Google Wallet, with their laundering through the Wallet service to charge the CC (and I do understand why they do it, but that doesn’t make it right), puts up a big barrier to adoption.
So many cards these days pay rewards for certain types of purchases, and with the intermediary processing method that Google uses, the cardholder may not get the rewards as they would if they just swiped the card themselves.
A LOT of progress has to be made before this becomes a widely used method of payment, and I’m afraid all of these initiatives and cooperatives are willing only to put in half-assed effort and then write it off as a lost cause when consumers rightfully decline to use the “services” due to gaps in completeness of each of the services.
This is the reason Apple gets a free ride. They dictate their terms to the carriers and they jump. Google has a better idea and all of a sudden they want to try their own thing by blocking Google’s idea. Instead of just banding together and moving forward. Living in Australia we have the same problem… NFC enabled machines are everywhere but the banks want nothing to do with Google. Instead they want to rip every penny left in our wallets. Over here they have been blaming the fact that Google will not give them the encryption key or some other bollocks reason. As a consumer give me the choice or f’off. If you don’t like Google Wallet come up with a better solution that will make me want to used it… but don’t force me as I will always decline.
So no GNEX on VZW… guess I’ll continue to use GW. suck it VZW
I guessed right the Galaxy Nexus wouldn’t be in this list. While I was worried at first, I realized that even if it doesn’t work simply with the .apk. It’ll eventually get ported, or even better force the carriers to allow GW to be available just like VZW is getting forced to allow tethering apps in exchange for rights to LTE’s spectrum’s.
So if Google Wallet continues to be blocked after ISIS goes live, how long until an antitrust suit or something similar is filed.
no skyrocket?? To bad now I’ll have to use my nexus 7 for purchases
Unless there is a legitimate incompatibility issue, I cannot see how blocking a mobile payment service while providing your own service will fly under anti trust laws. Imagine if Google fiber blocked access to mail.yahoo.com. that would be bad.