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Google's planned announcement of a mobile wallet today is the company's second chance — after Google Checkout — to establish itself as a major name in payments.
May 26 -
Banks were skeptical of the Isis mobile payments joint venture when the wireless carriers leading it announced it last year, but Isis says it has quieted its skeptics and is now working closely with the major banks and payments companies.
May 23
Google Inc.'s new mobile payment system puts pressure on Isis, the wireless carrier-backed joint venture trying to develop a competing system.
"What [Google Wallet] telegraphs to Isis is they're going to have to radically accelerate what they're doing … if they want to have a slice of this," said Nick Holland, a senior analyst who covers mobile payments at Yankee Group.
AT&T Inc., T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless announced the formation of Isis in November. At the time it said it was working with the payment network Discover Financial Services and the U.S. cards unit of Barclays PLC to develop a mobile wallet service that would let consumers use mobile phones with near-field communication technology to make payments at the point of sale. It has since said it is open to working with other banks and payment networks. It is planning to test the service in 2012 with the Utah Transit Authority but has not announced merchant partners yet.
The Google Wallet service unveiled Thursday has many of the same elements as Isis, including partnerships with a bank, card network, wireless carrier and several merchants. Google is rolling out its service now in San Francisco and New York and plans to make it available nationwide this summer.
Google's initial partners are Citigroup Inc., MasterCard Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. (which carries the Nexus S, the only Android smartphone with an NFC chip) and several retailers.
A spokeswoman for Isis said it would not comment on Google Wallet but "we believe Isis is best equipped to provide the necessary scope and scale to move toward widespread consumer adoption of mobile commerce."
