3 carriers to invest $100m in Isis, a joint mobile-pay venture – The Boston Globe

PORTLAND, Ore. – Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc., and T-Mobile USA plan to invest more than $100 million in their joint venture that would let consumers pay for goods with mobile phones, according to people with knowledge of the project.

The investment sets up a showdown between the venture, known as Isis, and rivals like a mobile-payment service from Google Inc. The amount of funding depends on how successful Isis is at attracting banks and merchants, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the financing is private.

The carriers have created the alliance to grab a piece of the market for mobile commerce, which lets consumers buy things by tapping their mobile devices against a reader. The market may reach $670 billion by 2015, Juniper Research says.

“It’s a given that people are going to be transacting more over cellphones,’’ said Chetan Sharma, an independent wireless analyst. “It could open a potential new revenue stream for them.’’

Worldwide, mobile payments will generate $240 billion this year, growing two to three times that amount within five years, according to Juniper Research.

Formed last year, Isis also would let consumers receive and redeem coupons via their mobile devices. The service, which will debut in several cities next year, will make money by charging marketers a fee for sending offers to consumers’ phones.

AT&T and T-Mobile declined to comment. The two companies are poised to merge early next year, assuming AT&T’s $39 billion bid passes regulatory scrutiny. Verizon Wireless did not respond to a request for comment.

Isis also has partnerships with Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc., Discover Financial Services, and American Express Co.

via 3 carriers to invest $100m in Isis, a joint mobile-pay venture – The Boston Globe.

Will ModoPayments Finally Monetize Check-In? | TechCrunch

It has often been stated that mobile payments are a solution searching for a problem. Indeed, what is the big deal about pulling a card out of your wallet vs. pulling your phone out of your pocket, to transact? Where is the value to drive the mobile payment other than convenience?Modo thinks it has to do with offers and they have integrated a framework for redeeming merchant offers with their payments platform. This makes sense to me. If I had to choose between paying with my Visa card in my wallet or my Visa on my phone that also happens to give me a big discount on the purchase I think the choice is obvious. So right out of the gate, ModoPayments has tied a distinct consumer value proposition to their service in order to drive usage they hope. Google Wallet has a similar concept. It will definitely be a motivator.The platform makes it possible to, in the words of Bruce, “generate a mobile payment transaction at any location that accepts either Visa or MasterCard with no change to POS and no change to the phone that uses ModoPayments.” It can exist as an SMS or native app solution; customers can choose either touchpoint.

via Will ModoPayments Finally Monetize Check-In? | TechCrunch.