CNET‘s Marguerite Reardon reports that Verizon Wireless has released NFC-enabled cases for the iPhone that will let its subscribers use Isis Mobile Wallet. The iPhone 5/5S case sells for $70 through the carrier’s retail channels, and the iPhone 4/4S case includes an extended battery pack and sells for $80. The move marks the first opportunity for iPhone owners to use Isis, a carrier-backed mobile payments initiative powered by NFC.

Meanwhile, some Isis partners are hoping to spur adoption by dangling carrots in front of consumers, as my colleague Kevin Fitchard reported late yesterday. Wells Fargo customers can get up to $300 for paying with the Isis app, receiving a $20 credit on their first transaction and then 20 percent cash back on other purchases before May until they reach the $300 cap. American Express is offering 20 percent off Isis purchases that connect to its Serve prepaid service up to $200. Jamba Juice, Toys’R’Us and Coca-Cola are also offering freebies to Isis users.

But I’m highly skeptical any of these moves will give Isis a noticeable boost. Reardon notes that users have complained about the app’s limitations and glitches, and the idea of an iPhone user paying $70 for the privilege of using it seems ludicrous. And as Fitchard explains, incentives are far from the only thing holding Isis back: It only works with certain banks, at certain merchants and on certain handsets. (Also, Sprint doesn’t support it.) I think a lack of education is also a major problem on both the consumer and retailer ends, and I don’t recall seeing any marketing efforts to address that. Mobile payments is still a wide open market in the U.S., of course, but the competition is heating up, and Isis will have to get much more aggressive if it’s to become a major player.