payments

It's becoming increasingly clear that in order for Isis's mobile-payments system to achieve critical mass, the big wireless companies backing it will need to ink some deals.

That's why the joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile USA, and Verizon Wireless announced today that it has signed agreements with VeriFone, Ingenico, ViVOtech, and Equinox Payments. Those companies will integrate the near-field communication-enabled Isis Mobile Commerce Application into their existing and future products. VeriFone, for example, will integrate Isis into its payment systems. Ingenico said today that Isis' NFC-enabled payments have been integrated into its Telium payment terminals.… Read more

Square is well-known in the payments business. Now it wants to replace a retailer's register.

The payments company has launched a new iPad application, called Square Register. Available for free in the App Store, the app is designed to replace a brick-and-mortar retailer's register, and can accept everything from credit card to cash payments.

According to Square, the application lets users input the many products they sell in their stores and assign prices to them. Those items can also be placed into a "favorites" list for easy access when customers buy a product. As with any … Read more

Mobile World Congress isn't just about introducing new cell phones. No, the world's largest wireless show in Barcelona, Spain, also is about showing off the latest mobile technologies that may or may not change your life.

Take, for example, NFC or near field communications. Not only did many of the new devices unveiled at the show come NFC-capable, but also the NFC Cafe displayed a gallery of solutions for mobile payments technology.

Making a purchase is a prime example, of course, but NFC also can be used to secure your motorcycle, navigate your way through an unfamiliar subway … Read more

Not sold yet on the magic of mobile payments? Sprint's recently posted YouTube video hopes to sway you to the light. This comes hot on the heels of Google saying it plans to bring Google Wallet to 10 phones this spring, one of which is Sprint's own Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Though Sprint's version of the Galaxy Nexus isn't scheduled to hit stores until sometime in the first half of this year, it's clear the carrier is already revving up its PR and marketing machine. The quick two and a half minute video expounds the theoretical virtues of using your smartphone to shop in the physical world with virtual cash. … Read more

BARCELONA, Spain--You would think Michael Abbott, who runs a joint venture aimed at deploying mobile-payment services across the nation, would want to take a shot at Google and the early stumbles it's had with its rival digital wallet.

You'd be wrong.

"I applaud Google for addressing the problem quickly," Abbott said in an interview with CNET today. "It's best for the industry if we move on."

Isis, a joint venture backed by AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile USA, has taken a slow, methodical, and some would argue frustrating, path toward deploying … Read more

Links from Monday's episode of Loaded:

BARCELONA, Spain--Isis, a mobile-payments joint venture among three of the major wireless carriers, is taking the slow and steady approach to its mobile wallet. And it appears to be working.

The venture, formed from an alliance between Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and T-Mobile USA, said today that BarclayCard, Capital One, and Chase will place their debit and credit cards into the Isis mobile wallet. The agreement marks a further strengthening of the circle of partners for Isis.

While Google has shot out with its Google Wallet service, Isis has taken a more methodical approach in its digital wallet, lining … Read more

Mobile phone customers around the world may soon have a way to pay any merchant or any other person with their device.

Today, San Francisco-based Boku unveiled Boku Accounts, a white-label service that will allow wireless carriers to offer their customers a mobile payments system that could work throughout the world. Those mobile users, in turn, will be able to make payments at any credit card terminal either with their phones, or with a special debit card.

Though no carriers have yet formally adopted the new service, Boku says one U.K. operator is well into trials. The company, which … Read more

Google has patched a hole in Google Wallet that could've allowed someone to access a user's funds simply by resetting the PIN and using a prepaid card.

The company said yesterday it has issued a fix that now prevents a prepaid card from being re-provisioned to another person. It has also restored the ability to issue new prepaid cards following a move on Monday to disable the use of such cards.

Osama Bedier, vice president of Google Wallet and Payments, said that he wasn't aware of any actual incidents of people abusing the prepaid cards or Wallet … Read more