Mobile Internet Forum 2009: mobile billing and mobile site creation need to be easier for mobile web to take off, says IP Square

IP Square is a software company that focuses on IT Services and mobile solutions. CMO Clemens Mensik explained that IP Square wants a barrier free world. The “barriers” in question being those that prevent easy sale of goods across the mobile web. He believes that if mobile payments were easier for consumers, and mobile site creation were easier for merchants, then the mobile Internet would see a huge growth in use.
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The three main barriers for the mobile Internet (according to IP Square):

Barrier 1: Customers - mobile web

The main barriers between the public and the mobile web are complexity and billing. It’s often very difficult to register for anything on mobile, and the basic lack of trust in payment methods puts people off.

Barrier 2: Merchant - mobile web

“Merchants” in this case covers both people who have products to sell and also people who want to shift information over the mobile web, like ad agencies. The problem is that merchants are still not used to the mobile Web. They suffer from an utter lack of know-how, and a lack of tools.

Barrier 3: Merchants - MNO

Even if the merchant were able to put everything on mobile easily and quickly, it still doesn’t mean it can charge the customer globally. A merchant should be able to connect seamlessly to MNO’s. His was example was of an Austrian merchant that can connect to operators worldwide, which would in turn allow a customer to easily make mobile purchases across borders.

What’s the solution?

IP Square believes it has a solution to these problems. Called Mobility Now, the service focuses on VAS billing and a mobile website creation platform. The billing side of this is integrated by the operators themselves, and is already in use by Jamba in Austria. IP Square claims it’s incredibly quick to deply, doesn’t require MNO’s to change their business models, and allows merchants to charge their customers far more easily. The merchant end of things is handled by the site creation platform. Based entirely on drag-and-drop, it requires basically no expertise on behalf of the merchant. This is the IP Square philosophy - that is should be simply for merchants to convert an on-line presence into a mobile web one.

What we think?

For me, the most important thing Clemens said was “at the end of the day, it’s all about revenue. Because if we don’t make revenue, we won’t be here very long.” I can get behind that. Making sales and billing over mobile easier will certainly drive mobile Internet use, but I don’t think it’s the cure-all that IP Square are claiming. Firstly, this is a proprietary system. To get the kind of global response that IP Square are talking about, we need to contribute to standardisation. Another billing system is fine and dandy, but it is also yet another billing system. My other worry is that these solutions fail to address so many other problems. Easier purchases are one thing, but there are a lot of other problems that need to be addressed: discoverability, SEO, speed, fragmentation, etc.

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BY Cian
Source：GoMo News

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