AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile work together on a mobile payment system

It seems like rivals are starting to band together for a common cause. Yesterday was AMD’s announcement that they would be working with Intel on Nokia’s MeeGo. Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that 3 of our 4 major carriers will be setting aside their differences to work together on a joint project together. The project aims to bring a mobile-phone payment system stateside. Headed by General Electric executive Michael Abbott, it will be funded by Barclays PLC and Discover Financial Services. According to the WSJ, “The rare showing of cooperation between three of the four national carriers creates a potentially large base of users for its mobile-payment system.”  With this system, it gives the carriers a new revenue stream and gets subscribers spending more time on their phone. The announcement of the new service’s existence could come as early as today. It’s nice to see competitors work together for a greater good once in awhile. I wonder how successful the project will turn out to be, and if Sprint’s Mobile Wallet is considered to be a direct competitor.

[image credit: ces-show]