Isis joins battle for control of your wallet
Operators vs banks in NFC cash-snatch death match
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AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have teamed up to create Isis - a pay-by-NFC architecture that places the network operators at its centre, though it may already be too late.
Isis has a logo, and is backed by Barclaycard, but will have to pit itself against Visa, which has already teamed up with Bank Of America, Wells Fargo and US Bancorp to run New York trials in conjunction with Mastercard. The sides have been joined and battle commences.
At stake is ownership of the secure element, the chip at the centre of the NFC architecture that stores the cryptographic keys necessary for the whole thing to work. That chip can only have one manager – the operators think it should be them – ideally with the secure element embedded in the SIM, while Visa and the banks prefer a removable microSD Card that places them firmly in control.
Both approaches allow the customer some flexibility to move between handsets, though using the SIM is obviously more intuitive, but both approaches also require cooperation from the handset manufacturers who ultimately decide to where the NFC hardware will connect.
Putting the element in one place doesn't preclude the competition; if Isis becomes the standard then Visa and Mastercard will just have to ask Isis (and the operators behind it) nicely and port their payment applications (PayWave and PayPass respectively) to the Isis infrastructure. But if they win and retain control of the microSD, then Barclaycard will have to come running to them.
Right now Isis is little more than a press release so it's hard to judge how successful it will be. Operators are very good at producing reams of documentation, but with the competition already running trials, and new players including Google and Apple on the horizon, it will take more than pretty logos and some aspirational animations to retain control of the customer's wallet. ®
COMMENTS
NFC, credits cards, etc - rubbish. C-A-S-H is KING (or Queen)
The country in which I reside has no cheques or much electronic banking,
Companies use payment clerks to ride around on motorcycles carrying huge quantities of CASH to pay out to creditors or collect from debtors. The government is just the same, CASH.
But we all have an option. If you want a receipt you will have to pay the 1!)% VAT; likewise if you don't need a receipt, you have the tax waived.
CASH is truly wonderful, in all countries. It doesn't leave a mouse trail for auditors, tax men or Plod to follow. This is the reason why governments love credit cards and, soon, NFC.
Erm, name already in use?
So could a company invent one of these things and call it Beatles? U2? So how come they can with Isis? I'm guessing cos it's already a name and not really copyrightable. Anyhoo, shouldn't that be NSFC?
And so the folly continues
Beautiful, just beautiful.
The whole card security is based on distance: you have to be near to read the chip - or so they think. It's actually just a matter of the right aerial and receiver - AFAIK it's possible to pick up that chip at about 30 meters (passports at 70).
However, I do think they jolly well know this, indicated by the transaction limit. When did you last hear a credit card company limiting its ability to get you into debt?
**Shudder**
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