Bango recently announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft to include Direct Carrier Billing across all Windows 10 devices as part of the Universal Windows Platform (UWP). This allows customers to pay for all Windows 10 content, including apps, games, media and software, charging the cost to their phone bill with one-click. This gives customers a simple, safe and universal payment method to consistently pay for all Windows 10 content.
Windows 10 has been the most successful and fastest growing Windows launch in history. A recent Microsoft announcement highlights that:
- The number of paid transactions doubled for PC and tablet customers during December (compared to 2014).
- Windows 10 users generate 450% more revenue per device compared to people using Windows 8.
- As of April 2016 over 270 million PCs, tablets, and phones run Windows 10 worldwide.
- Since launch, the Windows Store has seen in excess of 3 billion visits with a quickly growing catalogue of products.
- Windows 10 users are the fastest growing download segment of Windows users (both in volume and total percentage of downloads).
The Windows release also showed that in-app purchases (IAP) continue to be the most significant source of overall revenue for Windows 10, accounting for roughly half of total revenue generated. The IAP model is particularly popular in the games category, which, according to Microsoft’s announcement, comprises over 85% of IAP purchases from October to December 2015.
This growth only looks set to skyrocket, with Microsoft’s Build 2016 conference unveiling huge plans for Windows 10, including new media, AI integration and partnerships with key app publishers such as Facebook. Windows 10 customers will be able to use carrier billing to pay for this content, on all Windows 10 supported devices, using the Bango Payment Platform.
This marks an extended relationship for Bango and Microsoft, with carrier billing already available across a multitude of regions for the smartphone-only Windows Phone Store. Bango’s partnership with Windows 10 marks as a huge milestone for the growth of carrier billing, branching away from smartphone OS exclusivity to any smartphone linked to a Windows 10 account. Bango has partnered with Microsoft since July 2013 for carrier billing in the Windows Phone Store, and is the only partner to provide carrier billing for Windows 10 and Window Phone Store, highlighting the value of Bango’s unique platform.
Operators who launch Windows 10 carrier billing through the Bango Payment Platform have access to Bango Dashboard and Bango Boost. Both of these unique technologies are instrumental in the success of carrier billing – allowing the app store and operator to maximize the revenue potential of their billing routes. The introduction of carrier billing to Windows 10 offers massive growth potential for mobile operator’s carrier billing revenue. Bango has increased sales by up to 3x for carrier billing in a number of European stores, with even higher increases in countries with lower credit card penetration.
Windows 10 as a platform is expanding rapidly, with frequent updates being publically posted here.