Microsoft Wallet

Microsoft is undoubtedly trying to catch up to Apple and Google in the mobile market. Microsoft took its first step by introducing Microsoft Wallet, a method of NFC mobile payments. Surprising Microsoft didn't follow the naming pattern of Android/Apple/Samsung Pay. (Though I still think Google could have kept Android Pay in Google Wallet)

There's not many details about Microsoft Wallet, and we can speculate it'll do what the other services allow: Payments, loyalty cards, gift cards.

While this is a move forward for Microsoft in mobile, it's definitely a small one. There is currently no Windows Mobile phone that has a fingerprint reader, which adds friction to mobile payments. It's hard enough to convince users to take the risk of the payment not being successful; adding a PIN will just add to the reasons not to use Microsoft Wallet.

It's something at least... Hopefully Microsoft finds other ways of gaining users. Possibly take advantage of the AR technology from Hololens in the mobile space. This could be a space where Android and iOS are limited for now; though, Lenovo recently announced the first phone with Google Tango.