UK comes together on mobile micropayments

Carriers in the UK have started to roll out PayForIt, an industry-standard solution for micropayments -- charges totaling less than £10 (about $20.16) in this case -- to their subscribers. Though there are already plenty of ways to pay for odds and ends likes games and ringtones through cellphones, that in itself is a problem; with payment services like premium-rate text messages, customers are left with a confusing experience that leave them wary of the whole process and less likely to use it again. PayForIt, on the other hand, leaves buyers with a standard receipt page regardless of what they're purchasing along with some semblance of assurance that the system is secure. Purchases show up on the next month's phone bill, at which point purchasing 650 ringtones may seem like a distinctly poorer plan (not to say we've ever done that or anything). No word on when we might see the service outside the British Isles; companies involved over there seem to be pretty amped, though, so if everything pans out, we imagine a broader launch will be in the cards.

[philip @ Sep 3rd 2007 1:01PM]

Soon ringtones won't have to be paid for anymore! We'll all use nakko.com :)

[Dave the Rave @ Sep 3rd 2007 3:27PM]

Ha ha ha - so they've *finally* managed to launch this over-complicated piece of junk?

Firstly, each service provider has a different way of charging - so you'll probably still get the reverse-billed text messages from most operators (although sometimes these will have the "invisible" flag set so they won't pop up a notification).

Secondly, you'll be charged WAP data rates for ploughing through the many mandated checkout pages - a charge which is anything but cheap in the UK (and I'm looking specifically at you O2...)

From a Content Provider's point of view it's also rubbish for two reasons: end users can opt-out of supplying their mobile number (there are secure intermediaries who won't pass it on) so bang goes your marketing plan. Also the charges are higher in order to cover all the infrastructure and development that had to be put in place in order to get this system.

What's easier? Texting "ring10" to 81234 or opening your WAP browser (if it's even configured) enter the WAP site address of the store, browse for the ringtone you were after, browse through the PayForIt WAP pages and finally get an SMS with a WAP Push link to the content?!

Mental, completely mental.

[Mike @ Sep 3rd 2007 3:28PM]

Ummm... why does the logo say payforit.org when the website is payforituk.com?

[yoyodude64 @ Sep 3rd 2007 4:41PM]

so then...if this was brought to the US, would it compete on some levels with ebay's paypal mobile service?

[CB @ Sep 4th 2007 12:01PM]

I use Bango for payments on my wapsite, they now appear as payforit and I'm a easy UI Nazi and I have to say it's very good.
Simple, straight to the point with easy to use help functions and if it all goes pear-shaped you can message the vendor (Me) this starts a response trail that makes it easy to sort things out before they get
all small claims court.
You can simply refund them with one click..superb.

[Anthony Nguyen @ Sep 4th 2007 4:05PM]

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