Following last week’s agreements with several major financial institutions, mobile payments solution Isis has now added support from several point-of-sale device manufacturers, a key step to bringing the Isis mobile wallet into retail locations.

Verifone, Ingenico, ViVOtech and Equinox Payments said this week that they will integrate and support the Isis mobile wallet in their current and future product lines. As a result, consumers will be able to use the full capability of the Isis mobile wallet at retail locations equipped with POS devices from these manufacturers.

“VeriFone, ViVOtech, Ingenico and Equinox represent the vast majority of the U.S. payment terminal market,” said Jaymee Johnson, head of marketing at Isis, New York. “By working with these partners and integrating mobile commerce at the point-of-sale, Isis takes a critical step toward ensuring widespread merchant adoption.

“Integration will align with the launch of the Isis Mobile Wallet in Salt Lake City and Austin, TX, this summer,” he said. “Isis is working closely with merchants in Salt Lake City and Austin to ensure that the merchants that consumers frequent the most are Isis ready, including but of course not limited to grocery stores, convenience stores, fast-food, drugstores, gas stations and a variety of other retail locations.”

Smart POS devices
The Isis mobile wallet application enables users to pay for a purchase, receive offers and redeem loyalty points by tapping their phones at supported POS devices at checkout.

POS device manufacturers will enable Isis mobile commerce across several of their product lines, providing merchants flexibility in how they upgrade to Isis-enabled payment terminals.

Merchants will become Isis-enabled through a combination of new payment acceptance systems and NFC add-on devices, as well as remote software upgrades of certain devices already in the field.

“For a consumer to be able to use an Isis mobile wallet or other wallet or app at the point of sale, those apps also have to live in the POS device,” said Pete Bartolik, spokesman for VeriFone Systems Inc. , San Jose, CA.

“The POS has to be as smart as the mobile phone to enable value-added, payment-related applications,” he said.

“VeriFone’s current product line of POS devices incorporates an NFC App Manager that provides the management structure, or middleware, to install, update and remove apps without impacting other apps or requiring recertification of the POS device.”

Broad adoption
The news follows the announcement last week that Walmart, Target and other retailers are working on a mobile payments solution of their own. The retailers are reportedly talking to banks, technology companies and other possible stakeholders to include them in the project.

The announcement of a mobile payments solution from retailers could potentially slow adoption of mobile wallets from Isis and Google if consumers start to become confused by the growing number of competing solutions.

However, at the same time, the entry of a solution backed by retailers could also help drive awareness of mobile payments.

Isis’ deal with POS device manufacturers could also help accelerate the wide-scale introduction and adoption of mobile commerce.

“We will continue to build out an ecosystem providing the scope and scale necessary for widespread adoption of mobile commerce while focusing on our launch in Salt Lake City and Austin, TX, this summer,” Mr. Johnson said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York