Isis announced its plan to expand its mobile payment service. The service, which has long been delayed, will be launched within the year and will cater to consumers nationwide. The launch will come after testing of the concept with consumers from two markets.
The idea behind this planned service involved a "mobile wallet service". The service will allow consumers to pay through their phones instead of a plastic card. To pay, users only needed to wave their phones at a check-out terminal.
This wallet used near field communication (NFC), which is a wireless short range technology. Through NFC, users can also redeem coupons as well as present loyalty cards just by tapping their smartphone.
Isis was the result of a venture by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless, the top three mobile providers in the United States. The three companies were reported to invest US$100 million in the project.
Mobile payment, in general, was a non-cash way of payment. Last year, mobile payment transactions amounted to US$163.1 billion, according to Garner, Inc. This year, there was a 44% increase which brought the total amount of transactions to US$235.4 billion. In North America, specifically, these kind of transactions grew by 53% from US$24 billion in 2012 to US$37 billion this year. Meanwhile, global mobile transactions were expected to grow at an average of 35% per year between 2012 and 2017.
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