UPDATED 08:37 EDT / JULY 07 2011

Mobile Payments Gain International Support as Industry Expects Billions in Revenue

In-app billing and payments now has a big role in mobile industry. It offers a platform for operators and developers to enable the sale of virtual goods, adding premium features from within a mobile app for billing and SMS integration. It also makes it easy for subscribers to make transactions, such as purchasing apps in the absence of credit cards.  Social gaming has also been a good push for this technology, affording players to add the cost directly to their mobile bill.

One company looking to benefit from this growing industry is Fortumo LTD, founded in 2007 in Estonia, with offices in Europe (Tartu, Estonia) and US (Sunnyvale, California) has gained over 56,000 registered developers since 2007 and is profitable. The company has just added services to support operator billing in for over 61 countries. After a team-up with Rovio, through which they launched their so-called “Bad Piggy Bank” last year, you can see how important globale expansion is for Fortumo and its mobile payments system.The update is to the Android SDK, including support for mobile operator billing.

Varied methods of payments are growing to be viable alternatives to premium SMS charges in many different countries in Western Europe, Asia and North America, providing more reliable and secure options for end users, as well as payouts for developers. Fortumo’s in-app payments SDK facilitates direct billing where it’s available, automatically falling back to Premium SMS for operators where it’s not. Developers can enable both, giving end users and developers control and options over their mobile transactions.

It’s also available in 22 local languages in 61 countries, supporting 41 currencies. Moreover, the brand new SDK also comes with “offline payments” support as well as the ability to sing along virtual currencies.

“We all know how hard it is to enter credit card numbers on a mobile device. Credit cards are a major hassle when it comes to making impulse purchases. More so in the emerging markets, where majority of potential app buyers don’t even use credit cards,” says Fortumo.

Another mobile payment provider is Boku, based in San Francisco with offices in Europe and Asia, which allowing consumers to purchase goods and services with their wireless number, sending charges to the their mobile operator bill. It also brings bank-grade payments technology and mobile users together on the web, creating a trusted, accessible market for consumers, merchants and carriers alike. Recently, Boku launched the SDK for its 1-Tap Billing solution for Android in 56 countries, giving Android app developers another alternative for in-app transactions.

As an alternative to billing in-app purchases to the user’s credit card or bank account, Boku adds in-app purchases to the user’s monthly mobile phone bill. To do this, users just click on “buy” in an app, confirm their phone number for the purchase, and that’s it; no credit card info is collected, no additional registration or work is necessary.

The simplicity of the in-app billing technology is extremely important, because the more streamlined the activity, the more likely a user is to make purchases, and the more money a developer can make. Boku recognizes this, having partnered with 226 leading networks in the 56 launch countries, and claims to have a reach of over 1.6 billion wireless subscribers. In the U.S, for example Boku partnered with AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, US Cellular, and MVNO Virgin Mobile, giving it access to a significant piece of the market.

In favor of mobile payments and in-app monetization, analysts at Canalys project that mobile apps will make $7.3 billion in direct revenues this year from download in-app payments and subscriptions. That figure is set to nearly double by 2012 to $14.1 billion.  It’s a huge opportunity for many participating in the growing mobile economy, with mobile payments offering some of the most direct consumer access you can get.  Platforms to support multiple mobile operating systems, service providers and currencies will be central to this industry’s growth, with Fortumo positioning itself for international support and access.


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