Single-click billing is key to unlocking the business potential of the mobile web.
Bango today announces the integration of Payforit single-click operator billing into Facebook’s mobile site. The move will help to optimize the payment experience for Facebook users in the UK.
Payforit is a trusted mobile payments scheme created and managed by the UK mobile network operators Vodafone, Three, O2 and Everything Everywhere. It allows content owners to use operator billing to charge directly to a customer’s mobile phone bill. Payforit’s managing trade body AIME has said that Payforit grew by 33% in 2011.
Facebook supports the latest iteration, Payforit 4, in the UK. This latest evolution of the scheme is designed to streamline the mobile payment experience as much as possible, providing the same payment experience across devices and operating systems. Crucially, Payforit 4 supports single-click billing and embedded HTML5 payment screens, allowing for more consistent branding and a much lower drop-off rate.
Bango has long supported Payforit in the UK and is excited by Facebook’s involvement. “This is a real feather in the cap for the UK networks and their co-operative approach to billing. As we continue to build connections between Facebook and mobile operators across the world we’re particularly glad to support cross platform approaches like this” said Ray Anderson, Bango CEO.
Commenting on the announcement Danny Barclay, Head of Interactive Sales at O2 Media, said “we helped develop Payforit because we’re committed to streamlining and improving the payment experience for consumers. Bango’s achievement in bringing Facebook into Payforit is a real milestone”.
Facebook’s partnership with Bango is a key element of its strong commitment to HTML5 and improving payment on the mobile web. Speaking at Mobile World Congress earlier in the year, Facebook’s outgoing CTO Bret Taylor referred to awkward Premium SMS payment approaches, saying that “the payments experience on the mobile web is just broken for end users. To improve the user and developer experience around operator billing [we need to] eliminate the SMS verification step for the vast majority of customers. Payment on the mobile web should be a single step to confirm the purchase”.
