Isis, the mobile payment joint venture between Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, is finally going live Monday in Austin, Texas and Salt Lake City, Utah after missing its earlier summer launch date. The payment system, which uses near field communicaiton (NFC), will be available on nine handsets and can be used at hundreds of locations in the two cities.
Consumers interested in Isis will need to head down to their carrier store to either buy an Isis compatible NFC-enabled phone or check if their phone is among the nine supported devices. They will also need to get a new SIM card from their operator to enable touch-and-go payments from their phone.
After downloading the Isis app from Google Play, users will be able to load up their American Express, Capital One or Chase credit card. Or they’ll be able to use an Isis Cash card, which can be pre-loaded from any credit or debit account. While shopping in store, users will be able to tap their phone and pay at participating locations and also store and use coupons, offers and loyalty cards from retailers. If you’re in Austin or Salt Lake City, you can check here to see what locations support Isis.
Isis said it expects to have another 11 phones ready to go on the system by the end of the year. Salt Lake City users will also get free rides on UTA buses, Trax and Frontrunner vehicles through January 31, 2013. We’ll have a hands-on look with Isis tomorrow from my colleague Stacey Higginbotham, who will be testing out Isis in Austin.
