Mobile payments collaborative Isis has announced its first trial market, Salt Lake City. The group, which is comprised of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, plans to bring its contactless payment system to the Utah merchants in “early to mid-2012.” Isis also announced a working agreement with the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) to enable Isis payments throughout the entire public transportation system. “By working with the Utah Transit Authority, Salt Lake Chamber and Salt Lake City-area merchants, Isis is bringing the mobile commerce vision to reality,” said the group’s CEO, Michael Abbott. ”Salt Lake City consumers will experience a new way to shop, pay and save.” The announcement comes one day after a report suggested Sprint would develop its own mobile payment solution for future use. The full Isis press release is after the break.

Isis Advances Mobile Commerce with First Market

Isis Rolls Out Mobile Commerce Program in Salt Lake City and Partners with Utah Transit Authority to Make Entire Transit System Isis-Enabled

SALT LAKE CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Isis, the mobile commerce joint venture between AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, today announced it will pilot the Isis mobile commerce program in Salt Lake City in early- to mid-2012. Isis has also entered into an agreement with Utah Transit Authority (UTA) to make the entire UTA transit system Isis-enabled, marking the deployment of Isis as the first commercially available mobile transportation fare payment program in the U.S. Additionally, Isis is investing in the necessary infrastructure to enable mobile commerce on a nationwide basis and will be available to all merchants, banks, payment networks and mobile carriers.

“By working with the Utah Transit Authority, Salt Lake Chamber and Salt Lake City-area merchants, Isis is bringing the mobile commerce vision to reality. Salt Lake City consumers will experience a new way to shop, pay and save,” said Michael Abbott, chief executive officer at Isis.

Salt Lake City: The Place You Can Leave Your Wallet At Home

Isis, which announced its formation in mid-November 2010, is focused on bringing mobile commerce to Salt Lake City using mobile phones to make point-of-sale purchases through the use of near-field communication (NFC) technology. The Isis system will evolve to offer customers a highly secure and convenient way to pay, redeem coupons and store merchant loyalty cards, all with the tap of their phone.

The Isis mobile payment program will roll out in 2012 and allow consumers to use their Isis-enabled mobile phones to make point-of-sale purchases at retailers across the Salt Lake City area and on UTA transportation.

“On behalf of the residents of Salt Lake City & County, Mayor Corroon and I would like to express our excitement that the Salt Lake City area has been chosen to lead the roll-out of Isis mobile payments,” said Mayor Ralph Becker, Salt Lake City.

“We are pleased Isis mobile payments will be available throughout the Salt Lake City area starting with the relationship with UTA, and we look forward to many other merchants throughout the county offering this exciting mobile commerce service,” added Mayor Peter Corroon, Salt Lake County.

UTA is a pioneer in contactless payments for transit in the U.S., having implemented a “tap on, tap off” system in early 2009. The existing system, which allows consumers to pay with their contactless credit and debit card by tapping an electronic fare reader on a bus or train platform, will allow Isis-enabled mobile phone users to pay using their phone.

“Partnering with Isis is a critical step forward in widespread mobile contactless acceptance throughout the Salt Lake City area,” said Michael Allegra, General Manager at Utah Transit Authority. “Isis allows us to build upon our existing ‘tap on, tap off’ system, and provide our customers with a new, more convenient way to use public transportation using only a mobile phone.”

“Salt Lake City is on the cutting edge in so many ways and we are committed to incorporating promising technologies to improve the quality of life for the people of our community,” said Lane Beattie, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber. “As Utah’s largest business association representing over half the state’s workforce, we are excited about Isis as it gives our merchants a way to streamline their transactions and, more importantly, connect with their customers.”

Touted as an espionage tool but more closely resembling spyware is a new application, Phone Creeper, written by xda-developer member chetstriker. Once installed on a Windows Mobile 5, 6.1 or 6.5 handset with .NET CF 3.5, the software tool can be used to:

• secretly and remotely read incoming / outgoing sms
• secretly and remotely delete incoming / outgoing sms
• secretly and remotely view call history
• bounce sms messages off remote phone to someone else
• create a pop-up message on phone
• send a secret fart sound
• secretly and remotely listen to person – (Initiates silent call back of person to your phone with their speaker phone enabled)
• send listening in call to somebody else’s phone
• remote wipe of installed flash card

These above remote control commands are issued via SMS messages sent from any other handset to the “infected” Windows Mobile handset. The software is currently being distributed as a cab file that one must agree to install but, in the future, a code injector could be created to insert this application silently into any cab file. Once installed, the application does not appear in the task manager, does not have a user interface and runs silently in the background. So what do you think, the ultimate spy tool for parents of teenagers, a security suite to protect your data if your phone is stolen, or the progenitor of a whole new class of mobile phone spyware?

[Via WMExperts]

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What is the first thing you do when you get a pre-release version of a hot new Window Mobile handset? Why you dump the ROM and rip out all the new applications, of course. If you are nice fellow (or gal), you then package up your bounty into cab files and host them for all of the world to share. Such is the case for the Touch Diamond 2 whose ROM is the source of the following applications:

• HTC Calculator 1.0.1822.4128
• HTC Album 2.5.1820.4127 w/ Social Networking  (Thanks to herg at XDA)
• Opera v9.5 build 15613
• Diamond 2 Sensor with apps regedit  ( Thanks to herg at XDA for additional apps)
• Diamond 2 QuickGPS 1.0.1911.1733
• Diamond 2 Keyboard With Arrows ( Thanks to savage25rcracer)
• Diamond 2 Keyboard Without Arrows (Thanks to savage25rcracer)
• Diamond 2 Keyboard With Arrows in Landscape Only (Thanks to savage25rcracer)
• Diamond 2 Email Wizard
• Diamond 2 Volume Control 2.1.1911.2331

These cab files are reportedly ready and waiting to be installed on the VGA Touch Diamond. Got a Touch Diamond lying around? Let us know how everything goes in the comments section.

[Via WMPoweruser]

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