Nokia kept their nose to the grindstone but despite all that, they still were having a bad time keeping their sales figures. Microsoft, the largest software company, was looking for a chance to get into the hardware market and Nokia, being the sole leader of Windows OS seemed just the right one. In April 2014, the Nokia’s phone business was bought by them for over $7 billion.

Right after the acquisition, rumors suggested that it was the end for Lumia phones but Microsoft negated by launching new Lumia 650, 950 and 950 XL. They have ever been trying to survive the cutthroat competition and the new tap-to-pay feature was just the key to get the game started.

In June 2016, Microsoft updated the mobile wallet app with tap to pay option. With Apple and Android pay running successfully across US and UK, Microsoft realized the dire need to do the same. The wallet app is supported on Windows only software and in addition to that requires one of the Lumia series in order to be able to use the feature. This being yet another way to double check the sales for their phones. The digital wallet really carries a lot on deck, goodbye to carrying bundles of loyalty and credit/debit card. All that needs to be done is to carry something you always do, your smartphone!

The app secures the payment method for their users, after of course they have had their credit cards verified and all relevant information carefully fed. It came about in collaboration with Visa and MasterCard and covers all top banks. As a strategy, the feature was made accessible at all sites already being covered by Apple and android pay.

“Microsoft wallet is a cloud based payment technology that will make mobile payments simple and more secure for windows 10 mobile devices. Starting in the U.S with our Lumia 650, 950 and 950 XL and usable in over a million retail locations; anywhere you see the contactless payment symbol or the Microsoft wallet logo at the point of sale.’’ says Will White, director of payments at Microsoft.

With the mobile e-commerce on the rise, introducing apps to ameliorate the mobile shopping experience will only evince favourable outcome, which for Microsoft when it is falling a great deal behind on their market share, is not a bad option at all.

In the second quarter of 2015, they earned a market share as low as 2.6% which trailed behind that of both Android and apple. This situation continued to prevail in months following dropping to a scanty 1.7%.

When the questions as to “why” was repeatedly brought up, CEO Satya Nadella said they focus more on the services rather than the device. Now we all know why that was said, solely because they were unable to acquire any hardware market share and this insinuated an appropriate cover up.

The wallet app however will not reshape much of the sales picture, and if Microsoft thinks it will, they need to take a reality check. As after the app launch, a senior analyst Jordan Mckee said,” Given Microsoft’s position in the smartphone market, adding a mobile payment capability is unlikely to sell more devices or increase market share.”

Less than 10 percent of customers actually take into account the payment feature before making any purchasing decision, majority of them are engrossed in specs like camera lens, storage and the outer look of the phone. Microsoft needs to stop hanging on to loose ends like this and risk another whole year aspiring that the new app will save it for them.

Every passing year PC sales are sinking, why? Because people would rather get their hands on tablets and handy phones than endure all that processing time. Satya again, at an instance, said, ”One big mistake we made in our past was to think of the PC as the hub of everything for all times to come. And today of course, the high volume device is the six inch phone.”

Well in that case, as long as they discern, they might just be able to revamp the position. With ever growing social networks, smartphone has now become more of a need than a want. Sagacious investment in this domain will be worthwhile with the right choice marketing mix. The technology is open to all sorts of ideas and changes, the next generation phone could be looking like a handy cigarette or a candy bar for all we know! Sky is the limit here which is exactly why there is always room for innovation. Whether it be the Yezz Sfera or the OLED or the holograms, Android and Apple have got it all covered for later years.

Microsoft phones might seem trivial right now but it doesn’t necessarily put their future in calignosity. Now is the time for them to be inventive and pave way to come at par with the tech giants.

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