Could a Windows Phone Wallet expansion be in the works now that Apple had introduced Apple Pay for iPhone users? While nothing has been announced by Microsoft, the company has poached rival Amazon's product leader of Payments in Iain Kennedy. Described as a 6-year veteran at Amazon, Kennedy had worked on the company's "local commerce efforts."
According to Re/Code, Kennedy had been leading efforts to build a local payment system for Amazon that sounds like Google Wallet, Apple Pay, and even Softcard. It's unclear if Kennedy will be putting his expertise to work to help expand Microsoft's Windows Phone Wallet, which could be potentially be a direct competitor to Apple Pay.
And according to a job listing that Amazon exec Charlie Kindel has been tweeting out, the group Kennedy was managing is also working on a secret "set of related, undisclosed, products which will delight billions of customers as they buy and sell things in the real world (as opposed to online)."
So far, neither Kennedy nor Microsoft is disclosing what his new role will be in Redmond.
Thanks, Laura, for the tip.
Source: Re/Code
