Verizon Wireless asked me to take a look at their Isis mobile payment and loyalty card app on my Verizon Galaxy S4. They gave me a small stipend to go shopping, so I could properly check it out. But all opinions are my own, not theirs.
My coffee break was easy peasy with Isis.
My coffee break starting by looking up where in the neighborhood I could grab a cup of joe using my Isis mobile app. That was easy with both the mobile app (since it could identify my current location) and on my desktop (since I could enter my zipcode.) Seeing the merchant icons popup on my screen, I thought for a moment about running to the local wine merchant instead (coffee, wine, coffee, wine), but coffee won out!
Actually paying with the app couldn’t have been easier. The barista was excited too, as he said that he doesn’t have a lot of customers ask for it, but he has gotten good reviews from those that do. He told me about one regular that says it makes it easier when he runs, since he carries his phone but not his wallet.
Getting back to the paying part, all I needed to do was open the app (with my super secret four-digit PIN) and swipe to the card I wanted to use (since I have two credit cards saved on my app.) Then I held the back of my phone up to the payment station, and heard a satisfying beep of success. Next I needed to click a “Done” button on the app, and that was it.
When I returned home, I also logged into my American Express account, just to take a look at how the charge was handled. It was listed exactly as I would have wanted: Peet’s Coffee with the actual address of the store I visited. It’s always harder to verify charges when they use a corporate (out-of-state) address.
Only thing that wasn’t easy was me trying to snap a picture of the Isis payment terminal. It was blocked by all sorts of holiday promotions!
So, that’s it. I love the idea of mobile payments. I hate carrying extra stuff that just weighs my already beleaguered shoulders down. Is this ready for mainstream yet? I think the technology itself works perfectly. Isis Mobile will just need to bring more partners on in order to get wider acceptance.
We used ISIS for our holiday shopping and it was so easy to use. Since we already had paypass in our debit card we were used to just swiping but now we can use our credit card and debit this way!
Yes, I really like that Isis connects with my point-earning credit cards.
I haven’t used any mobile payment apps (other than the Starbucks one) but after the Target credit card breach I think it’s time to start.
Yup, that Target breach was a scary one. I also have the Starbucks app and love using that one too. It will be nice though when there is ONE MOBILE app that works universally.