Softcard mobile payments get an end date; enjoy NFC on Windows Phone while you can

Last month we learned about Google’s plans for a big expansion of Wallet, joining forces with the carriers behind Softcard (née ISIS). And while that’s good news for Google, Wallet, and arguably Android mobile payments in general, it hasn’t been such a promising turn of events for everyone involved. As a result of this new partnership, Softcard as we know it is shutting down, and while its Android users are welcome to transition over to Google Wallet, there’s also been a Windows Phone version of Softcard, and that’s also being shuttered. This week we finally learn the date on which the service will go dark, as plans are revealed to end things on March 31.

While Windows Phone users abroad have their own mobile payment solutions, and Microsoft’s likely to come through with something of its own eventually (even if that means waiting until Windows 10), Softcard’s the only option currently available for WP in the States. Once Softcard kills its app at the end of the month, users of the platform in the US will be without an NFC-based mobile payment service for at least the next few months.

We know, that’s hardly the end of the world, and we can’t imagine Softcard on Windows Phone had a gigantic user base to begin with, but we’ll still be sad to see the platform left with one fewer service than the other major players.

Source: Softcard
Via: Droid Life