The mobile carriers’ frustration with the banks, some analysts said, was the impetus behind a joint venture by Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Discover to create their own mobile wallet. The venture, known as Isis, is expected to introduce its system next year. Barclaycard, already a major player in Britain, will be the first issuer of the group’s in-phone credit card and sees it as an opportunity to expand in the United States. Referring to the carriers’ 200 million customers, Amer Sajed, chief executive for Barclaycard US, said, “It’s phenomenal for us to be able to leverage such a large customer base, right as the customer is getting or updating their mobile device.”

The banks and credit card issuers, meanwhile, have found a way to temporarily avoid working with the cellphone carriers.

Bank of America, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bancorp and JPMorgan Chase, working with Visa, are all in various stages of testing wallets that would provide access to some of their own credit or debit cards. Because their model is powered by a chip that consumers insert into a slot in certain phones, it does not require the cooperation of the mobile operators.

Visa said some of its bank partners might introduce mobile payments in the second half of this year. But that variation may become outmoded as more phones with embedded chips become available. Visa said it was also working with other providers to ensure that its network would work in all wallets.

(As to the issue of security, several banks and payment networks said that mobile wallets would require a pass code and could be disabled remotely if a phone was stolen. Consumers would not be responsible for transactions they did not make.)

Apple and Google already have payment systems — Apple’s iTunes has 200 million accounts tied to credit cards, while Google Checkout has been less popular. Both could be turned into mobile wallets, allowing users to pay for offline purchases with their Apple or Google accounts. But they would need access to the cellphone chips and the merchants’ terminals. Apple could make its own cellphone chips to make this all happen, but Google could not because it makes only Android cellphone software, not the phones themselves.

Getting retailers on board is important to the widespread adoption of the mobile payments because many merchants will have to replace their card terminals.