Isis, the mobile commerce joint venture set up by a group of US telcos, has struck deals ensuring that its NFC payments technology works with VeriFone, Ingenico, ViVOtech and Equinox point-of-sale terminals.
The agreements mean that the terminal manufacturers will integrate and support the Isis mobile commerce application in current and future product lines.
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 some hardware already in the field.
Securing the participation of POS terminal makers comes a week after Isis brought Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard on board, with all three agreeing to load their credit, debit and pre-paid cards onto the telco-controlled mobile wallet. Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express are also signed up.
The service is slated to launch in Salt Lake City and Austin by the middle of this year before a nationwide roll-out. Isis recently claimed that it will have as many as 1000 merchant terminals ready for the launch.
Scott Mulloy, CTO, Isis, says: "Payment systems suppliers provide critical infrastructure for the development of mobile commerce. Today's announcement is an important step in enabling NFC technology adoption throughout the mobile commerce industry. It also validates the open platform approach being offered by Isis across multiple business sectors."