There has been plenty of chatter lately about the future of ISIS. The joint venture launched last year by AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA was expected to have a mobile payment method based on near field communications (NFC) by sometime this year. But after the JV's recent "reworking" of its strategy two weeks ago, many were ready to call the experiment a bust. Now ISIS CEO Michael Abbot is working to get the message out that ISIS is operating according to plan and that all is well with the organization.

In an interview with the Forbes "Mobilized" blog, Abbot said creating a mobile commerce system like ISIS is looking to build is no easy feat. According to the post, Abbot "emphasizes that [ISIS] is building a nationwide mobile commerce ecosystem capable of delivering and storing information about mobile coupons, reward cards and tickets, not just a simple mobile wallet service, and that such a project takes time."

Abbot said that the company is still looking at rolling out its payment network in 2012 after trials in several cities. ISIS announced Salt Lake City would be the site of its first trial, with other pilot programs in other cities to be announced soon. And while that slow approach may put ISIS behind other companies that have announced NFC products by later this year, Abbot believes that's not necessarily a bad thing. 

"This is not about being first but getting it right," Abbot told Forbes.

As for getting it right, Abbot told Forbes the technology the company is looking to deliver is just about ready for its debut. "We will have the [cell phone] technology ready soon," Abbot said.

Abbot demonstrated some of the ISIS technology to the Forbes blog as well, explaining how the company's mobile wallet will work.

The ISIS application will act as a  "top-level, secure container," according to Abbot, allowing financial institutions, card brands or merchants to store card data, loyalty programs, coupons or whatever on a consumer's phone. ISIS will collect revenue for the access. Abbot said that several revenue models had been explored and discarded. While not providing full details to Forbes, Abbot said the new model provides plenty of potential for ISIS.

"If you don't try to hijack the card data, you can really build a [mobile commerce] ecosystem," he told Forbes. "And that's what the merchants and banks really want."