MS should outbid Google in the Softcard Negotiation.

[theefman]

Yeah, until Google reveals their grand plan, there's nothing for Android users to get excited about. It's good that Softcard is going to come pre-installed on more devices. However, the app is still inconvenient to use. Retailers still aren't supporting, some have even turned tap-to-pay off on their POS machines. And we still don't know where the banks stand. Google has a long way to go before making Softcard a viable alternative, but hey, at least it's a start.

I think it goes beyond that. This is all related to the US, is Europe going to be on board for a system that passes personal financial information to google? How about the rest of the world, do they even have the infrastructure to support mobile payments? These are just some of the issues that need to be resolved before mobile payments can really take off as a worldwide standard, like current credit cards. Until then and a worldwide standard is agreed on, proprietary solutions limited to the US aren't going to change the way people shop in the future and its just going to devolve into another bragging point that's added to a spec sheet.

 

[Alain_A]

I don't trust that kind of payment system...I'd never use it...

 

[Guzzler3]

UPDATE: It's official

Google buys Softcard tech, Google Wallet to be preinstalled on more devices | Android Central

Great. Just fraking great.

I wonder if MS had any pre-existing contracts with Softcard that Google will have to honor (more likely Google will weasel out somehow).

 

[gMaesterUK]

Also don't forget that Samsung are looking at their own version of pay per bonk separate from Google, so there'll still be fragmentation...

G.

 

[a5cent]

I think it goes beyond that. This is all related to the US, is Europe going to be on board for a system that passes personal financial information to google?

Never. On the flip-side, most European countries don't have any comparable service at all. If something similar comes to Europe it will go through the banks however. Not the carriers. Certainly not U.S. carriers.

 

[Jorge Holguin]

Well is already too late... MS have to come up with its own payment system.

 

[Jazmac]

The SoftCard model is driven by greed and kickbacks. It's highly flawed. Carriers created this mess.

Google, then Apple, each came up with separate workarounds to provide security for transactions. Microsoft needs to do the same and implement an in-house system and get it ratified by Banks.

Cut out the carriers, we already know how they put ridiculous and wasteful exclusivity at the forefront of every deal they touch making it so much less than what it should be...

Very true.

 

[gMaesterUK]

Well is already too late... MS have to come up with its own payment system.

Or use/buy PayPal...

G.

 

[Jorge Holguin]

Cast your vote for W/WP mobile payment system

https://windows.uservoice.com/forums/265757-windows-feature-suggestions/...

Ask the guys at MS for it.

@GabeAul @joebelfiore Apple & Google have it. I would like to know if MS working in a mobile payment system?

 

[theefman]

Never. On the flip-side, most European countries don't have any comparable service at all. If something similar comes to Europe it will go through the banks however. Not the carriers. Certainly not U.S. carriers.

Which is how it should be, a payment system should be handled by the institutions who handle payments, not your wireless carrier. Only in the US are carriers treated like they are the kings of everything wireless and have to give permission for anything you do on your smartphone. I cant imagine having to get approval from my phone carrier to pay a bill in a store, its ridiculous. Yet they have got US consumers thinking this is an acceptable way to do things. Amazing example of mass mind control.

 

[Jazmac]

Cast your vote for W/WP mobile payment system

https://windows.uservoice.com/forums/265757-windows-feature-suggestions/...

Ask the guys at MS for it.

@GabeAul @joebelfiore Apple & Google have it. I would like to know if MS working in a mobile payment system?

I wonder what kinds of political hoops MS will need to jump through to make this available? I also suspect it would also need to be a solution available on ALL platforms and not just Windows Phone.

 

[Jorge Holguin]

I also suspect it would also need to be a solution available on ALL platforms and not just Windows Phone.

Agree, I believe this wont be an issue with MS, just look at the Office suit. But they have to come up with something fast or the news will spread that everybody is working on MPS except for MS. Then, like always they will rush to come up with something.

 

[rory753]

I don't often quote the verge, but there is this to think about:
Bill Gates on The Verge: Can mobile banking revolutionize the lives of the poor? | The Verge
basically, it talks about how developing countries will be setting the trend for mobile banking, due to the constraints set forth by developed banks and systems. This is an interesting article for anyone interested in mobile payment and what we might be thinking about for the future. I'd be curious to know of anyone with first hand knowledge of these systems(Kenya or others) could weigh in

 

[Jorge Holguin]

What's new in WP10 TP1? Lock screen apps, NFC payments, "Notification Accessories" (Wear/Auto), Social Networks access, "Me" tile images.

Justin Angel
@JustinAngel

 

[psudotechzealot]

Lack of vision & bad timing is continuity hurting WP.

 

[psudotechzealot]

Keep up the good fight, Jorge Holguin.

 

[mhc48]

Chasing after Apple and Google in mobile payments sounds like a sucker's game for MS. And would be viewed as distant third place attempt to catch up which it can't do given the present low number of Windows phones compared to Android and Apple. The canny way Satya Nadella has been going lately, it seems more likely to me that MS would take the approach of letting them all beat themselves up with conflicting systems and if/when one emerges as dominant, having WP phones be able to work with or use it. If MS wasn't in the game of trying to compete directly with them in that battle, I don't think either Google or Apple would close access to their systems and forgo the additional revenue stream.

 

[ShinraCorp]

This payment system war is ridiculous. I didn't know you guys wanted to pay stuff so badly I mean what ever happened to reaching your pocket, grabbing your wallet and pull out a credit card/debit card? I mean they both have NFC chips in it now (well the USA doesn't but meh) so it's still tap to pay with these cards. Heck if they were to bring this stuff in Canada I bet my shinny Loonie that not a lot of people will use it. I keep using my credit card's tap to pay since it takes 4 seconds to get it out instead of a phone that requires an app to open, a security check and then the payment to process.

 

[TechFreak1]

Okay, lets put this into prospective this is simply tap + pay which can be utitlised by either embedding the secure element in the sim or phone or using software. Apple's method was to implement it into their latest phones whereas Microsoft opted to "partner" with carriers and go for the secure element-in-sim option. Hence why it has never taken off (they only had one partner in one country - Orange in France at launch) and furthermore the adoption in the US has been marred by the additional requirement of Softcard, whereas outside the US that middle element is not needed.

If Microsoft had the banks, stores, visa etc on board at launch then this would be a different story.

My guess is that since Softcard was a joint venture of AT&T, Verizon and T-mobile, Microsoft really didn't have a choice in the matter. If they did then they have themselves to blame for this predicament.

Right now MS can brush this off if they remove the dependency off softcard and just go down the route like they did with outside the US for the interim period. Going forward, it would be interesting to see what Microsoft does; whether they start implement the secure element in future phones (personally I believe they should as it removes their dependency on Carriers) or figure out a better approach.

 

[Jorge Holguin]

Look the only reason I would like to see MPS on WP is to add another functionality. Knowing how the U.S media works they'll push this as if "you have it or you are nobody." We can't deny Apple and Google popularity and users will just go where they have the functionality even if they don't use it. It's better have it and don't use it that need it and don't have it - heard if this before? That's the sad truth. It doesn't kill me a little keep using the plastic, but security who ever does it better will win big.