I Can Haz ISIS?

Not to be hater (but haters gotta hate), but I kind of love the way that ISIS has become kind of an industry joke in mobile payments. Originally announced in late 2010, it promised the world. Partnering with Discover, BarclayCard and running on the networks of T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T, it was supposed to be the next big thing. It promised a payment system using direct billing, where all purchases could be aggregated to the user's phone bill--- partnering with all of the MNOs would allow it to run on any network and the combined power of Discover/ Barclaycard rails. (Yeah...I know that part isn't as impressive. But it gets better.) I will admit that amidst the haze of the exciting news that was spilling out on a daily basis, I was as excited as a hacker upon finding out that they were re-releasing Mountain Dew Code Red (p0wned!). Then, like a true love that you later find out has been saying "Bible Camp" or "studying with friends" when she really meant "Spearmint Rhino Gentleman's Club", "Little Darlings" or "Uncle Cappy's House of Ladies" (I'm copyrighting that last one for pure creepiness street cred), I began to see the flashing "Girls Girls Girls" sign in our relationship.

First, they pushed back their launch date. Their partners began to get a little restless-- and the rumors began to spread that ISIS potentially wasn't what it had promised to be. By summer of 2011, due to the increasing pressure from the industry stakeholders, ISIS released a statement that it was going to be changing its direction a little bit. It decided to move away from the direct billing and model and jumped on the mobile wallet train, promising NFC capabilities and an integrated loyalty, couponing and payment solution. It partnered with more issuers-- adding Visa, MasterCard and American Express. It began to feel a lot like a caricature of itself-- "Let's just throw out hot buzz words! Couponing! Location based services! NFC! Mobile wallet!!".

Now ISIS has announced that its adding more banks to its impressive (but completely non-functional as of right now) roster by including Chase and Capital One. Thus far, ISIS is still planning on launching its pilot in Salt Lake City and Austin towards the end of Q2 of 2012.

So I get it. A lot of people want to jump on the band wagon, I mean, now that almost every single major player in FS (and in the Mobile Network Operator space) is in on it-- you don't want to be the odd kid out! So the MNOs-- understandable. American Express has always prided itself at being the forefront of customer service, and accordingly it is entirely possible that ISIS would provide an additional convenience that American Express' increasingly hip (and affluent) demographic would gravitate towards. Visa and MasterCard, as the "other" two larger juggernauts in the space have the resources and the desire to be involved in anything that could seriously impact their business model. They're kind of like the kids that you have to invite to your birthday party because you're scared if you don't they'll give you a swirly and/or none of the other kids will come.

Discover and BarclayCard got in on the ground floor, and as the original partners, they deserve some extra love. They might be feeling a little angry right now because they thought they were boyfriend-girlfriend, and it turns out that they're more in a Big Love type relationship.

Now with the addition of Chase and Capital One I'm getting a little confused. Their public statements stay pretty consistently in the "say a lot of positive words that don't mean anything" realm. I know that Chase is one of those banks that, after having introduced the Quick Deposit mobile functionality is the new "cool" kid who has an innovative name to prove. Or, you know, they just are trying to make sure they're company stays competitive in terms of mobile technologies. You choose. Capital One, long thought of as a more regional entity with those cool (very very very very expensive commercials) with Jack from 30 Rock, is a bit of an interesting twist. I can't say too much about this other than Capital One seems like they're making strong moves to elevate themselves to become a big dog by playing out of their league. If ISIS ever does comes to fruition (the jury is still out on the probability here-- I imagine it'll happen, but for it to be as successful as the two years of hype promises, well that's probably closer to a 35% probability), this could really benefit Capital One more than any of the other partners that ISIS has on the docket.