What about NFC (Near Field Communications) for mobile payments? It looks like Microsoft may have a solution in the near future: Bloomberg has reported that it has two anonymous sources who claim that Microsoft is working on integrating NFC technology into Windows Phone 7, probably as early as this year.
With it's competitors working towards a similar goal it is not too surprising. Microsoft has to try and take a step ahead of it's competition to stay relevant. With their partnership with Nokia, and pressure to provide a suitable competitor in the tablet market Microsoft has a lot of work ahead of them.