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Mobile-payments JV strikes more credit card deals

ISIS, the joint venture between AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile, is the first to strike a partnership with all four credit card issuers.

Roger Cheng Former Executive Editor / Head of News
Roger Cheng (he/him/his) was the executive editor in charge of CNET News, managing everything from daily breaking news to in-depth investigative packages. Prior to this, he was on the telecommunications beat and wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal for nearly a decade and got his start writing and laying out pages at a local paper in Southern California. He's a devoted Trojan alum and thinks sleep is the perfect -- if unattainable -- hobby for a parent.
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Roger Cheng
2 min read

ISIS, the joint venture between three of the national wireless carriers designed to spur the development of a wide-reaching mobile-payment system, said today it had formed a partnership with Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.

ISIS has struck a deal with all of the major credit card issuers, including market leader Visa. Visa

In addition to an existing relationship with Discover, ISIS is the first to strike a deal with all four major credit card issuers. That marks a significant milestone for the venture, which has been slower to deploy its mobile-payment system.

"By working with the nation's payment networks--Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express--we significantly advance the vision of an open and secure platform that provides banks and merchants with a new and highly relevant way to connect with consumers," ISIS Chief Executive Michael Abbott said in a statement.

ISIS, a partnership between AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and T-Mobile, took some knocks early on for being too slow to the game. It initially launched with Discover, but it quickly changed gears and began talking to the other credit card issuers. It also remained quiet as other companies such as Google made noise about their competing setups.

The venture plans to test a mobile-payment system next year in Austin, Texas, and Salt Lake City.

Later this summer, Google plans to deploy its Google Wallet feature. Google is partnering with carrier Sprint Nextel, which has one of the few smartphones in the U.S. market capable of letting people tap their phones at a register to pay for goods. That's Samsung's Nexus S, which has a near-field communications chip that can talk to special terminals found at checkout counters, gas stations, and cabs, among other locations.

Visa, the market leader among credit card payment providers, is a coup for ISIS. Visa isn't working with Google; MasterCard is the partner for that initiative.

Others are ramping up their own initiatives. PayPal recently used the Nexus S to show off the ability to tap phones to transfer funds. Sprint also announced a partnership yesterday to use American Express' Serve mobile-wallet application.

Updated at 9:42 a.m. PT: Adds additional background on various mobile-payment deployments.