3earlyIn the first quarter of the year InMobi partnered with Opera Software that brought InMobi’s SmartPay mobile payment platform to Opera’s more than 160 million mobile browser users worldwide. This now enables its users to pay seamlessly for digital goods in key markets around the globe when they make purchases with some of the leading publishers that partner with InMobi.


According to Piyush Shah, Vice President, InMobi SmartPay the partnership is key in helping them accelerate their ambitious expansion plans. Besides, both companies are committed to provide choices to consumers, mobile content developers, and app developers, by building viable third-party monetization solutions in the mobile browsing and computing space.

“For Opera Software, this is a great example of our commitment to providing our users with the best possible user experience on any device. SmartPay’s single point of integration, which provides access to a wide array of global payment solutions, fits perfectly with our goals,” said Mahi de Silva, EVP of Consumer Mobile, Opera Software.“

Opera Mini is the world’s most popular mobile browser with users on most mobile platforms including iOS, Android, Symbian, BlackBerry and Java, Including other browsers for computers, TVs and connected devices, as well as Opera Mobile, the browser for high-end mobile devices.

A year earlier, Amdocs launched its cloud-based mobile payments solution that offers mobile operators fast time to market, new revenue streams and operational efficiencies. The company’s solution enables mobile operators to quickly, securely and cost-effectively scale their mobile payments business for both prepaid and post-paid customers to open new revenue streams.

Mobile payments that are charged via the carrier offer consumers the convenience of charging purchases directly to their mobile phone bill, prepaid balance or mobile wallet.

With Amdocs Mobile Payments, operators can quickly capture new and emerging revenue streams in the mobile payments market which is predicted to reach $670 billion by 2015, according to Juniper Research.

The solution is based on Amdocs’ expertise of processing more than 250 million mobile payment transactions a year totaling more than $2 billion in mobile payment revenues, allowing mobile operators to:

•Â Â   manage the richest set of app stores, merchants and aggregators;
•Â Â   process transactions for both physical and digital goods or services;
•Â Â   settle against all available payment methods such as post-paid bill, prepaid balance or mobile wallet.

Amdocs Mobile Payments Solution is Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based, which is business support systems (BSS) vendor agnostic and enables the following:

Fast time to market – pre-integrated with Google’s Android Market as well as supporting the requirements of other app stores (e.g. Microsoft Marketplace, BlackBerry AppWorld, Amazon), leading content providers, gaming and virtual credits companies, as well as payment aggregators.

Broad functional capabilities – new use cases, features and technologies such as in-app billing, self-service and advanced refund options are added dynamically by Amdocs as the mobile payments market evolves.

Affordable business model - operators of every size and location can enter the mobile payments market or scale their operations while reducing the cost of managing off-portal content business by offering the solution on a revenue-share or per-transaction business models.

Scalability, flexibility and automation – simple partner on-boarding process, broader payment options, and automated settlement of accounts.

Reliable, scalable and secure solution - leveraging Amdocs’ technology and experience with its Digital Commerce Solution.

“Today’s shopping experience is increasingly mobile and consumers prefer the convenience of mobile payments settled on a carrier bill rather than disclosing their credit card details to unknown retailers,” said Brian Shepherd, Amdocs division president. “Mobile payments using prepaid balance are often the most attractive payment option for young and unbanked consumers who want to participate in the digital economy. Mobile network operators are uniquely positioned to take advantage of their billing relationships with their consumers to enable them to do more in the connected world.”

Let’s see what 2013 will have in store for mobile payments, that will surely shape commerce for the next several years. InMobi, Amdocs and Opera will definitely stay at the forefront of this revolution, catering to millions of users worldwide.


By MediaBUZZ