Doing the deal is the easy part. Getting paid? Now that's a lot harder.
But it's what Estonian billing expert Fortumo has been doing since 2007.
Back then, it was mainly focused on enabling the players of online games to buy micro-transactions via their mobile phones.
Now, however, supporting carrier billing in 73 countries around the world, Fortumo is increasingly filling in the payment gaps that mobile platforms can't reach.
Apple remains locked to its credit-card-based iTunes platform, of course, but Fortumo's services can be used for in-app purchases in games and apps on Android, Windows 8, Windows Phone, Java and legacy BlackBerry OSes.
Most recently, it became the first supplier to offer in-app purchasing for Barnes & Noble's Nook devices.
Follow the money
"We're always been developer-centric, but we're increasingly moving towards platform holders," explains chief revenue office Martin Koppel.
Of course, given the much higher revenue multiples that can be driven through carrier billing, especially in regions where credit card adoption is low, hook us with companies like Barnes & Nook makes total sense both for them and Fortumo.
A Fortumo-enabled purchase on Nook
Yet, building up its business has been a hard slog.
While it's always offered developers a simple self service sign up, it's had to do the heavy lifting in terms of integrating with each carriers' billing system, as well as dealing with transaction fulfillment and complexities such as fraud detection.
"Because we started in Eastern Europe, we've always offered sophisticated fraud management," Koppel says.
Similarly, as Fortumo rewrote its platform from scratch for mobile, it's been able to offer more appropriate UI and much shorter authorisation times compared to companies more embedded within the web ecosystem.
Further afield
Now it's looking to build out its carrier partnerships in markets such as India and China.
"This is our third attempt to crack China. It's really difficult but thanks to our deal with China Mobile, we think we can meet the opportunity now," Koppel explains.
A key reason for the interest there is Google Play isn't available in the fast-growing and fragmented Android territory. However, in order to succeed Fortumo may have to extend its business model.
"We already have a huge portfolio of games companies [using Fortumo] but in China we're tackling the problem from a different direction," he says.
"It becomes more of an issue of helping western developers into the Chinese market, as well as helping Chinese developers to go global."
Interview
Contributing Editor
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.
Related Articles
News
Dec 10th, 2014
Fortumo builds out Windows Phone carrier billing operations adding subscriptions
Top Stories
News
Apr 22nd, 2024
Games Go Green: Major studios join PlanetPlay’s Make Green Tuesday Moves initiative to fight climate change
Feature
Apr 22nd, 2024
Tjodolf Sommestad talks AI, tips for indie devs, and a day in the life of King's president
Feature
Apr 22nd, 2024
Behind the scenes: How to achieve a 30% revenue increase three years after launch
Feature
Apr 22nd, 2024
Hot Five: Earth Day, birthdays, game closures, layoffs and more. Here's what's hot right now…
Events
App Promotion Summit London | Europe | Apr 25th |
Esports Future Summit | Middle East | Apr 27th |
Dubai GameExpo Summit 2024 | Middle East | May 1st |
The MENA Games Industry Awards 2024 | Middle East | May 2nd |
GameDev Atlantic 2024 | May 4th | |
Mobidictum Meetup Berlin May 2024 | Europe | May 7th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Israel Mobile Summit 2024 | Middle East | Jun 6th |