Given that the Isis pilot is still far off, as well as the inherent complexities of creating a mobile payment system, Egan joined other analysts in concluding that NFC won't be coming any time soon, at in full force, to the U.S. "Card payments ... are complex, hard to build and monitor," Egan noted. "The process has just begun."

Avivah Litan, another Gartner analyst, said that in light of today's Isis reports, "NFC technology is ready in the lab, not on phones, but mobile payments are all about the business model, not technology."

"Isis shows that if you want to go it alone, you won't succeed. You can't expect merchants and consumers to work with one bank. You can't force anything down anybody's throat," Litan said.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at or subscribe to . His e-mail address is .

in Computerworld's Mobile Apps and Services Topic Center.