Isis, the mobile payments venture owned by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile USA, is delaying the launch of its mobile payments service for the second time this year, an Isis executive says. No reason was given for the delay.
Some might speculate that Apple's decision not to support near field communications in the iPhone 5 is a factor for Isis.
But Apple's "go slow" approach to mobile payments is not unusual. Apple wasn't the first firm to make a PC, wasn't the first to make an MP3 player or the first tablet or a smart phone. It still isn't immediately clear how mobile payments creates a huge new device market for Apple, and that tends to be the way Apple approaches new markets.
Delays aren't unusual for large proposed mobile payment services. Telcos in the Netherlands have delayed their mobile payments launch as well. There also have been delays in Australia, the United Kingdom and Singapore.
There are plenty of other reasons for delay. Mobile payment is a complex ecosystem with uncertain value for many key participants in the ecosystem and lots of confusion about which consortia might emerge as clear winners. That Apple iPhones don't yet support NFC is but one of the problems.
"Closed loop" systems that might work only at Home Depot or Starbucks, and do not require use of NFC or other relatively rare features, are logistically easier to launch, precisely because the universe of merchants, terminals, apps, payment processors, devices and users is contained.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Isis Delays Launch, Again
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
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