Xbox One & PowaTag Get Together For Mobile Payments on Screen

The Xbox One hasn’t exactly been wanting for a mobile payment system, especially as it readily connects to credit cards or even PayPal.

However, a new development gives it access to this rapidly growing market, as Powa Technologies’ PowaTag system gives Xbox One a new advantage, using mobile payments as a means to shop the included e-commerce store—The Mall on Xbox One—with a mobile device.

Microsoft got together with Powa Technologies, as well as Von Bismark, to bring out a whole new service. Von Bismark is well-known in the field as a TV commerce solutions provider, and that combination makes a powerful new tool for Xbox One players.

Users will now be able to use a mobile device to scan codes that appear on screen, and make purchases that way. Coupled with things like the Kinect motion tracking camera system, users would be able to virtually try on a garment via a virtual wardrobe system by just standing in front of the television and letting the Kinect do the rest.

Purchases become simpler, as the system can used pre-entered information, preventing customers from getting annoyed with lengthy forms every time a purchase is made.

It’s an exciting enough idea, especially in concert with the other connections that Xbox One is offering here. A game system in a lot of living rooms, backed up by a motion tracking camera that connects to a mobile payments system that looks like it’s easy to use.

Sounds great, but there are some notable flaws to this idea that should be considered. One, it’s easy to wonder why this is in place anyway, as Xbox One already offers connections to PayPal or credit cards through its Xbox Live Marketplace.

Why not simply extend that functionality to The Mall? It almost seems like PowaTag and Von Bismark’s involvement might be extraneous here, an unnecessary step added to complicate, rather than simplify, the system.

Then again, it could be that this is geared toward those who might not necessarily be big gamers.

Perhaps this is for those in the household, or those visiting, who don’t have Xbox Live accounts and thus don’t already have the necessary payment information already built into the system.

A lot of possibilities are involved in this development, and it certainly looks like it might have some convenience involved in its operations. It might well work out better than some may expect, though only time will make that story clear.