Contactless joint venture Isis is expected to pilot its mobile commerce program in Salt Lake City by mid-2012, The Paypers is reporting today. Meanwhile, Sprint is prepping its own NFC venture to be launched this year.

The blog did not source the news on Isis.

The Paypers said the Isis pilot would “allow customers to make purchases, redeem coupons and store merchant loyalty cards by tapping their NFC-enabled mobile devices.”

In addition, Isis has entered an agreement with Utah Transit Authority (UTA) to make the UTA transit system Isis-enabled. UTA offers contactless payments for transit in the US and implemented a “tap on, tap off” system in 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, is set to allow Isis-enabled mobile phone users to pay using their mobile phones.

Isis, a joint venture between Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Deutsche Telekom’s subsidiary T-Mobile USA, is one of several ventures looking to seize marketshare in mobile payments.

As for Sprint, its NFC plans come with a different pricing model:

Rather than take a percentage of each transaction, as Isis plans, Sprint could share in revenue from sales of coupons sent to its customers’ handsets or targeted advertising, McGinnis said. Users’ purchases would be billed through their regular credit-card statements.

These are initial salvos in what will be a long payments war between a wide variety of entities.