The company said the new service makes it easy for consumers to sign up and manage their subscription accounts on the mobile internet, and that it will restore public confidence in mobile subscription payments, which have suffered over the last two years as the public started to distrust subscription services.
Some consumers found they had unwittingly signed up for regular payments or didn’t get the content they had paid for because they mistyped a message or their handset could not use the service. Bango said its subscription service addresses these concerns in a number of ways.
It ensures that consumers see the terms and conditions before confirmation of any payments so it’s clear how much the service costs and the frequency of the payments. It said the integration with the payment flow in a mobile internet session overcomes the problems of a disparate SMS message based approach where the terms and conditions are separated from the payment experience.
Consumers also have an easy way of controlling their subscriptions. By visiting bango.net on their mobile phone, or clicking on a link from the content provider’s mobile site, they clearly see the details and status of all their active subscriptions, with a one-click option to cancel future payments.
The user needs an internet-enabled handset to sign up. The mobile internet site offering the services detects handset capabilities so they only offer content known to work on the user’s handset.
The new Bango subscription service, due to go live later this quarter, is part of Bango’s global mobile payment platform so users can pay for content on their phone bill, using PayPal or credit/debit card. Content providers can offer subscription options along with a single one-time charge, one-time payments for defined periods or free access.
