Microsoft is to embed a payments panel into Outlook to enable users to pay bills and invoices directly from their inbox.
The tech giant is at pains to point out that the service is intended to streamline the payments experience within Outlook and that the company is not acting as a bill pay agent.
Instead Payments in Outlook will be supported by a number of payments processors, including Stripe and Braintree, billing services from Zuora, and invoicing from the likes of FreshBooks, Intuit, Invoice2Go, Sage, Wave, and Xero. The company is also working to incorporate Fiserv's Innovation Network within the ecosystem.
Payments in Outlook will roll out in phases, initially to a limited number of Outlook.com customers over the next few weeks and will be available more broadly in the coming months.