Isis Says It Will be a "Delivery Engine"

Isis, the mobile payments venture owned by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA, now says it will be a “delivery engine” for banks and payment networks to provision and manage their applications on NFC phones.

Isis also said it will serve as a distribution channel for merchants and consumer product companies for their digital coupons, loyalty programs and other offers.

Isis expects to charge fees to the banks and payment service providers for managing their applications on the carriers’ SIM cards or other secure chips that the telcos control on the phones.

Isis would also take a small fee when it delivers a coupon or enables consumers to receive advertising or other offers on their phones, Hughes said.

Instead of creating a new retail payments brand and back office, Isis now appears to be setting out to be a social shopping platform and ad network.

Much hinges on ability to retain control of the credentials management process, though. Carriers obviously would like that process to center on the mobile handset subscriber information module. Handset manufacturers want to control the process themselves.

Without Own Payment Service, Isis Recasts Itself as ‘Delivery Engine’