Bango today announced that Gameloft, a leading publisher and developer of video games for mobile phones, is using Bango technology to power its direct-to-consumer mobile internet site featuring Gameloft’s most popular titles including Mission Impossible 3, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent and 2006 Real Football. Gameloft chose to use Bango as it builds the direct-to-consumer side of its business to provide a mobile internet solution with payment integrated into the WAP session.
“We are very happy to have signed this partnership with Bango,” said Houssain Elguertit, B2C Development Manager at Gameloft. “We’re witnessing a big evolution today in terms of WAP usage and Bango is a good partner to work with for WAP billing.”
The Bango Service enables global billing with the best payment method dynamically presented to the consumer depending on their country and network using Bango’s BillRank technology. The system chooses from the following payment methods: direct operator billing (including PayForIt™ in the UK), Premium SMS, credit/debit cards and PayPal and adapts according to the user’s preference. So if a consumer in the UK prefers to pay with their credit card the next time they come to pay for a game, this option is presented first.
Gameloft’s marketing programs are driving traffic to the direct-to-consumer site with visitors seen from across Europe and the US. Mobile users access the mobile site by entering www.gameloft.com into their phone browser or by clicking through from specific promotions. Once on the site, they buy games in one seamless step.
Why the mobile internet?
By building sites on the mobile internet model, brands ensure they provide a superior user experience where users can browse for up-to-date information plus download digital content. Mobile internet sites also tap into increasing use of search and advertising on mobile as people looking for new mobile content and services, browse into mobile sites from a search engine or click-through from a mobile ad. Where brands are delivering ad-funded mobile sites, the mobile internet is the only way to generate the necessary ad revenue to support this.
Businesses of all sizes are using Bango to seize the opportunity to engage directly with their consumers on the mobile internet. These include global brands such as News Corporation, World Wrestling Entertainment, Discovery Mobile and MTV, together with smaller, niche content providers. Each Bango package is designed for business’s different needs from the Bango Focus package for smaller content providers to the Bango Target and Bango Advantage package for global brands.