An interesting tidbit:
Microsoft to Unveil 'Wallet' Technology
For Web Shopping Via Passport Service
By DON CLARK
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
REDMOND, Wash.-- Microsoft Corp. on Monday will introduce an
electronic purchasing service, sometimes called "wallet" technology, and
says more than 50 merchants plan to use it.
Company Profile: Microsoft
Wallets let consumers enter and manage the data commonly required for
electronic shopping, such as credit-card numbers and shipping addresses,
so they won't have to keep entering it each time they buy something over
the Web. Numerous companies have developed wallet software that stores
such data on the consumer's PCs, including America Online Inc. and
International Business Machines Corp., as well as Microsoft.
Microsoft's new offering stores the information on one of its Web sites, as
part of a service that the company calls Passport. The advantage of the
approach is it allows consumers to shop more efficiently from multiple
computers, said Josh Herst, a Microsoft group product manager.
Participating merchants have agreed to put a link to Passport on their
sites that users can call up when they are ready to purchase an item. They
can call up the Microsoft site and selectively transfer their stored
information to the merchant.
Besides Microsoft's own sites, the initial group of merchants include
Barnes & Noble Inc., Costco Wholesale Corp. and SkyMall Inc. Carl
Rosendorf, a senior vice president associated with Barnes & Noble's
Internet operations, said the Microsoft technology was his company's first
wallet adoption but might not be its last. "We are keeping an open mind"
about forthcoming technologies, he said.
Microsoft has in the past discussed getting a cut of transaction fees
associated with e-commerce software and services. In this case, however,
Mr. Herst said the company is asking only a "nominal" upfront fee from
merchants to speed the adoption of the technology. |
