Microsoft’s launch of its Wallet 2.0 is a bit like someone who shows up at the party after midnight. Apple Pay has been around since 2014 and Android Pay is nearly a year old.
Microsoft is touting the fact that the new version supports NFC “tap to pay” (as if that is a major innovation), but only on a limited number of devices and it is only available to registered insiders. The service will go live with 8 major MasterCard and Visa banks.
On a positive note, Microsoft gets the advantage of learning from the Apple and Android roll outs, and the fact that over a million merchant locations are already enabled for NFC payment applications. Perhaps Microsoft can use its dominant market position to play catch up.
Many consumers are already using competitor products, and Microsoft isn’t exactly dominating the market with Windows-based phones, so this “me too” announcement is a bit of a yawner.
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