NFC-enabled Windows Phones could go on sale this year, report suggests

According to Bloomberg, Microsoft is working on a Windows Phone update that will bring mobile payments to its fledgling smartphone operating system. Citing two anonymous sources, the publications writes that the company “plans to include mobile-payment technology in new versions of its operating system for smartphones as part of an effort to narrow Google Inc.’s lead in handset software,” and “the first devices boasting these features may be released this year.” The report suggests that the company’s mobile payments solution will be based on NFC (Near Field Communications) technology, meaning that new phones with NFC hardware would also have to be released. The world’s largest phone manufacturer, Nokia, has committed to Microsoft’s smartphone operating system for future devices. The Finnish company has been experimenting with, and using, NFC in its phones for many years, which can’t hurt Microsoft’s chances of success.

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