News Feature | April 14, 2015

The POS Shuffle: Microsoft Licensed For Payments, While Groupon May Be On The Way Out

Source: Innovative Retail Technologies
Christine Kern

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Groupon may be looking to exit POS, as Microsoft officially enters the POS competition.

Microsoft has officially entered the realm of payments with its first money transmitter license, issued by the state of Idaho’s Department of Finance, according to USA Today. The move suggests that Microsoft is serious about adding money transfer services to Windows, according to WMPoweruser.com. This could pose a serious challenge to ApplePay.

In addition, Microsoft Payments Inc. has registered with the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) as a money transmitter and provider and seller of prepaid access, according to documents unearthed by payments consultant Faisal Khan.

Payments.com reported that this is not a shocking move on Microsoft’s part.  Last month, at the WinHEC conference in Shenzhen, China, they screened  a concept video and discussed a new Windows 10 Mobile feature called “Tap to Pay” that could support payment card numbers stored in a mobile phone’s NFC Secure Element or through Host-Card Emulation (HCE).

While the details are still foggy, what is clear is that Microsoft is taking real steps to challenge ApplePay’s dominance in the POS world.

Meanwhile, Groupon may be ready to jump off the POS merry-go-round, according to Re/code.  The report suggest that they are contemplating a sell-off of Breadcrumb, In addition to Breadcrumb, the division that makes checkout software for restaurants and bars that runs on iPads. 

Payments.com also reported that, in addition, Groupon is reportedly considering selling off some or all of its Korean business, Ticket Monster, as competition increases in that region. Groupon bought Ticket Monster from competitor LivingSocial for $260 million in early 2014. Groupon has been increasingly focused on transforming its website into a shopping destination with a giant catalogue of deals on local services and products that customers visit regularly rather than relying on one-off email promotions to bring in customers.