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| Payforit - An Unbeatable Mechanism For Mobile Purchases? Mobile payment initiative, Payforit came into force across all mobile internet services and UK networks officially on September 1, 2007. The payment system was welcomed by the mobile industry; and now key operators, content providers and API's (Accredited Payment Intermediaries) believe the future success of the initiative will rely on the developments made over the coming months. Dialogue Communications hosted a NOC – The Future of Payforit seminar in London last night to look at what the future holds for this payment mechanism. Dialogue's MD, Guillaume Peersman was joined by Iain McCallum of O2, Jeremy Flynn of D2See, and formally of Vodafone, and Phil Cooke of I-Play, to discuss where Payforit is heading. Since Dialogue went live with Payforit in January 2007, the feedback has been positive, with statistics from content providers and API's demonstrating a clear increase in conversation rates. Dialogue has seen a rise of up to 27 per cent on conversion compared to premium SMS solutions for its connected customers and I-Play is now approaching a 15 per cent conversion rate for customers visiting its mobile site. Price points have been one area of debate amongst the operators, with the consensus being that a £5 maximum purchase value is not enough to offer a broad range of content, and this rate should be increased to £10. Operators are already working on solutions to tackle this problem and in only a matter of months some may well raise the limits. Consumer awareness is one of the key issues facing the brand. Simply, consumers are not being told what Payforit is and what its purpose is. Operators need to increase the promotion of the system before it can achieve its objectives. Currently, on portal content purchases still make up around 25% of the market, therefore it is very much an active area in purchasing content and needs to incorporate the Payforit standard to ensure the user's buying experience is always the same. In terms of marketing, opt in boxes are currently left ticked on certain networks and unticked on others and there is a feeling amongst some operators that this is an issue that needs to be standardised across the whole industry. In addition to this, there is the matter of a merchant's memory of consumer choices. Put simply, should consumers have to re-tick a box every time they revisit the same merchant? Payforit will come up against some tough competition over the coming year from systems such as Google Checkout and Paypal Mobile. However, by making some minor developments, this registration free payment tool, which is quick and easy to use, looks set to become the market leading initiative it has always looked likely to be. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Exhibition News :: home page |