Wednesday, March 12, 2014

drag2share: Carrier Billing Is An Alternative Way To Pay On Mobile â And It's Beginning To Catch On

source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/GsBZmuS1FpA/carrier-billing-hasnt-gone-away--here-is-why-it-has-got-developers-app-stores-and-mobile-carriers-so-excited-2-2014-3

Carrier Billing Share

You may remember carrier billing from the early days of cellphones — you bought a ringtone via text and added the cost of the purchase directly to your mobile bill.

Once we entered the mobile Internet age though, and the things you could purchase from your phone expanded dramatically, carrier billing was mostly forgotten. 

Instead, there's been a lot more focus on mobile payments startups. Venture capital firms and traditional payment players have shown more interest in software-centric payment tools, like Square and Stripe. 

But now a recent report from BI Intelligence finds that carrier billing is being updated for the mobile app age. While the concept of adding charges to one's mobile bill hasn't changed, carrier billing technology has made some giant leaps. It now offers a smooth, low-friction way for consumers to pay for digital content like apps and tokens within apps.

That's why it has developers, app stores and mobile carriers so excited.