Aepona - Direct-to-Mobile In-App Billing: the Saviour of the Mobile Apps Market?

A bold statement perhaps but the huge rise in activity and interest in this sector is undeniable. With the number of applications growing and the race to the price bottom intensifying, the market is saturated, leaving us to ponder what’s next for the applications marketplace, where it’s becoming increasingly difficult for developers to make any meaningful revenue.

Traditionally the extent of commercial interaction with the user is at the point when they make the app purchase. However the sheer number of applications now available makes it difficult for developers to distinguish themselves and remain competitive. There is always going to be a cheaper or free variant of the premium application. If charging for applications is becoming more difficult, the next logical step is to monetize the app in a new way – make the application free and look for ways to generate revenue as the application is used through Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) In-App Billing.  The Apple App Store and Android Market are already supporting a form of this but they only enable the user to buy using the credit card linked directly to their account or via PayPal. With Direct to Bill charging, new features, upgrades and in-app content can be purchased from within the application, charging (with the user’s consent) directly to their mobile phone bill.

This open system has the ability to reach the almost 5 billion mobile users on the planet, all of whom have a mobile phone bill or pay-as-you-go scheme that can be used as a payment platform for the in-application services. The sheer ease of Direct-To-Mobile In-App purchasing and monetization will result in higher sales conversion rates, particularly as there is no account to set up (like the App Store / iTunes or Android Market) and users can simply charge the features direct to their phone bill.

Traditional Direct to Bill services supported by mobile operators allow a trusted partner/developer service to securely connect to the carriers infrastructure in order to place a charge through the operator’s billing system. In-Application access changes this model by allowing applications on the mobile handset to connect directly, removing the requirement for 3rd party access points. This poses additional authentication and security concerns validating both the subscriber and developer in each charge. Aepona has been at the forefront of solving these challenges and D2M In-App Billing is supported by the latest release (3.0) of our Universal Service Platform.

Direct-To-Mobile In-App Billing is an essential evolution for the mobile applications market. As the marketplace becomes more and more overcrowded, it becomes harder to differentiate one developer’s application from another, and stagnation will set in. D2M In-App Billing will stimulate a new commercial interaction with the subscriber – they download the app for free and as they upgrade or advance in the app (for example, reach a new level within as game) they are charged a specific amount to their mobile phone bill.  Simple-to-use APIs are available to developers to include the D2M In-App Billing feature within their apps across all popular mobile platforms, and mobile operators and mobile cloud computing providers will deploy next generation charging and settlement systems such as the Aepona Universal Service 3.0 platform to ensure secure, authenticated, flexible and easy to use charging functionality.

The mobile applications market has to continually adapt to rapidly-changing conditions and D2M In-App Billing represents the next logical place the market needs to go.