Microsoft Pay

The service was launched exclusively to Windows 10 Mobile in conjunction with an update to Microsoft's Wallet app.

Microsoft's mobile operating system had previously supported contactless payments for NFC-equipped handsets as early as 2012 in Windows Phone 8 and the original Wallet app.

Additionally, in the United States, mobile carriers AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon required use of their joint-venture developed platform, Softcard, to process the payments.

When Softcard was purchased (and subsequently shut down) by Google in early 2015, it left the Windows platform without a viable contactless payment system in the United States.

The platform allowed Microsoft to coordinate directly with financial institutions and credit card issuers to make contactless payments on Windows-based smartphones, beginning in the United States.