Tech Watch: New Mobile Payment System On The Way

(KCBS) - A joint venture between three of the top wireless companies has struck a deal with all four major credit card companies that could lead to a new mobile payment system.

ISIS is a joint venture between Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, only Sprint is not a part of it. And now they've lined up Discover, Visa, MasterCard and American Express payment networks, CNET Editor-at-Large Brian Cooley explains.

"This allows all the wireless carriers to get payments for any merchant or card carrier who wants to enable that. It's a key thing to make it easy and cohesive for consumers."

Cooley said the the biggest concern consumers have right now is security of their money. For some reason, people believe paying for things with your phone is more risky than using your credit card.

The technology used is a Near Field Communications (NFC) chip which would allow consumers to simply wipe your card. Currently, only one or two phones right now have these chips.

"We'll see more of these phones late this year and early next," Cooley estimates. "The other big hitter to watch here is Google. Google is working with Sprint on a whole separate competing venture called Google Wallet."

You can hear his Tech Watch report Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:50 P.M. on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM.

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