It’s time for mobile payments to fully get underway.
Unless you happened to own one of the very few phones that supports Google Wallet and happened to have a Citi credit card, chances are you haven’t had the opportunity to pay for an in-store purchase with your phone.
But that may soon change, as rival service Isis is now securing retail partnerships.
The venture has firmed up support with Foot Locker, Champs, Jamba Juice, Macy’s, Dillard’s, Aeropostale, and Coca-Cola vending machines.
If you’re at least familiar with Google Wallet, Isis will seem pretty familiar. Provided you’re in an Isis-compatible store, you can load up your Isis app, click on the linked credit card or other payment type you want to use, get and redeem merchant-specific loyalty offers immediately, and tap your phone to pay.
It’s essentially a carbon copy of Google Wallet, except this one is backed by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon so its success will be vaulted by instant carrier support and marketing efforts. Isis is the brainchild of the other three major carriers, meaning support is much more widespread.
One other thing that does set Isis apart is an activity feed for each user, turning the platform into more of a social system.
So far, Isis has financial partnerships with Visa, American Express, Mastercard, and Discover, though the Discover deal is still being hammered out. Capital One and Chase are already fully supported within the Isis platform.
