PayPal, Microsoft partner to allow Windows 8.1 devices to use PayPal Here

PayPal and Microsoft have partnered up to allow US-based Microsoft device owners to use PayPal Here – PayPal’s card reader – on their gadgets as long as they are running on Windows 8.1.

According to Mobile World Live,the service will only be available to a select few Microsoft devices.

“PayPal is updating its card reader — called PayPal Here — to work for the first time with devices running Windows, as part of a mobile point-of-sale alliance with Microsoft,” states the article. “Devices including the Surface Pro 3 tablet and Lumia 830 and 635 smartphones, which all run Windows 8.1, will soon support the PayPal debit and credit card reader. In fact, Microsoft will offer a complete package (Surface tablet, PayPal Here app and card reader and POS hardware) through its own stores later this year.”

PayPal Here, which was launched in 2012, already supports iOS and Android.

PayPal will also add EMV (chip and PIN) capability to its card reader in the US later this year, working with Android, iOS and Windows devices.

The US is a relatively later adopter of EMV technology, having previously stuck with magnetic stripe technology for a long time. PayPal Here already works with EMV cards in the UK and Australia.

PayPal says that the new reader, due later this year, will allow EMV and contactless transactions via Bluetooth and will support “any chip card, magnetic stripe card, or contactless payment form, including mobile wallets.”