Bango Reports Four-fold Increase in WAP Billing in the USA
In the last three months, mobile billing vendor, Bango says that it has seen a four-fold increase in the number of WAP transactions in the USA, as content providers choose to sell their content using its mobile billing relationships with AT&T, Sprint Nextel and Virgin Mobile. This reflects a shift in the way mobile content is sold in the US with WAP billing gaining momentum as the industry realizes the mobile web delivers a superior and safer consumer experience.
Using Bango, content providers can now reach over 130 million US subscribers across all three major US operators. Mobile users can pay for content per download or as a subscription, charging it to their phone bills using the same familiar "browse and buy" process they are used to on the PC internet.
"The shift to WAP browse and buy is a solid response to the recent claims of inappropriate charging of consumers," said Anil Malhotra, SVP of Marketing at Bango. "Content providers are adapting to these challenges by using WAP to deliver a clean, clear buying experience for the user. Their businesses also benefit from far low customer service costs and refund levels of less than 0.1%, compared to figures approaching 10-20% where content is purchased with Premium SMS (source: industry research firm iGillot)."
"The mobile web market is booming in the US - 65% of all new phones purchased are now music-enabled," said Massimiliano Pellegrini, Chief Executive Officer, Dada Entertainment. "WAP billing offers an easy, seamless experience for our Dada.net consumers and fits in well with our overall mobile music strategy."
Posted to the site on 12th September 2008
