Isis -- the mobile-payments venture founded by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon -- announced on Tuesday that it has struck deals with Coca-Cola, Foot Locker, Macy's and a number of other retailers to use its pay-by-smartphone system in stores nationwide later this year.
Isis also announced that hundreds of local retailers in Austin, Texas, and Salt Lake City, Utah, will accept payments using its Isis Mobile Wallet platform later this summer when the wave-and-pay effort officially launches.
As for which smartphones will actually work with Isis, the mobile payments consortium is keeping mum.
Isis, like its rival Google Wallet, uses the near field communication (NFC) chips found in many smartphones to store either a user's credit card data or a pre-loaded amount of digital cash. With their Isis phones, users will be able to make purchases by waving or tapping their smartphones on an Isis-compatible check-out scanner.
Google Wallet is already working with check-out scanners in more than 100,000 retail locations, including big-name stores such as the Gap, Office Max, Toys 'R' Us and Walgreens. However, Google Wallet is stymied by its poor smartphone support -- it's currently available in only four phones from Sprint, and none from Isis backers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.
The national retailers opting into Isis include the clothing store chain Aéropostale, Coca-Cola (via vending machines), Dillard's department stores, Foot Locker and its subsidiary Champs Sports, Jamba Juice and Macy's, said an Isis spokesman. Various local-only retailers in Austin and Salt Lake City will also support Isis payments, the spokesman said.
Roping in all these prominent brand names is a win for Isis, but don't feel too bad for Google Wallet. Coca-Cola, Footlocker, Champs, Jamba Juice and Macy's are already working with Google's mobile payment scheme.
