The pre-release of a mobile payment solution by Microsoft ,dubbed the descriptive “Tap to Pay” generated the fanfare appropriate to a third place handheld OS, and the article takes a fair assessment of its capabilities, comparing it to the leaders in the field (iOS ApplePay and Android Pay). Much of the comparison was around finding issuers to that have are cleared to take up residence in the reviewed digital wallets.
Apple Pay won handily: It works with all 5 of my credit cards, though it did not support my debit card (which comes from a small local bank, so no surprise there). Cards from Citi, Barclays, American Express, and two from Chase all worked. Two of the cards—Barclays and Citi—required me to call the institutions and answer security questions, and the Barclay call turned into a somewhat amusing interview that took quite a while. I guess they’re serious about security.
Windows 10 Mobile, as noted was a disaster: None of the six cards worked, though each was added in turn to my Microsoft account, so I now have numerous choices when I buy content from Microsoft online.
But here’s some good news for Windows phone fans: Android Pay coughed up an air ball too. None of my cards worked. Not the debit card. And none of the credit cards. That actually surprised me.
Mercator Advisory Group started in its assessment where this article concluded, in that Windows is investing resources in a market that does not appear to be catching on with the wider public. Despite the logical advantages of increased security and less bulk, the majority of us are simply not changing our transactional behavior, and still use cards at the POS.
Microsoft has securing a distant third in a static market, but perhaps the saving grace is that they did not invest all that much. As our currencies migrate to digital environs, there will be greater call for these mobile payment solutions, but in the immediate future they appear to be merely trading water.
Overview by Joseph Walent, Senior Analyst, Emerging Technologies at Mercator Advisory Group
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