NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Windows 10 for phones, set to be released later this year, will support host card emulation, or HCE, based NFC payments, Microsoft revealed at a recent Windows event in China.

The HCE support was expected from Microsoft for its mobile operating system, which struggles against the two giants, Android, which has spearheaded the drive toward HCE and Apple’s iOS, which it promoting its own version of conventional NFC payments using embedded secure elements.

Microsoft is believed to be aligning its HCE technology in its forthcoming operating system upgrade with the requirements of the major payment schemes Visa, MasterCard Worldwide and American Express. Microsoft has supported what it calls “tap to pay” NFC functionality in its Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system and a modified version of an earlier OS Windows.