Fortumo Becomes Part of One Platform Foundation

If there is one thing that is rapidly outliving its usefulness, it is hard currency. There are cases in which consumers in developed countries can go weeks or even months without ever using cash, and as the migration to digital commerce continues to move forward, the intervals will grow longer, until eventually this antiquated platform will likely be obsolete. The problem facing a cashless society is compatibility with all the platforms and technologies trying to provide the solutions for consumers. This defragmentation is being consolidated by different groups to provide solutions for its customers and service providers, but it is far from being one single solution.

The One Platform Foundation and its Open In-App Billing (OpenIAB) is designed to provide a standard platform in which developers can make their apps available more broadly across all app stores. The OpenIAB initiative wants to establish a unified billing solution for the more than 30 Android (News - Alert) market places that are currently out there. By wrapping their applications using the OpenIAB library, developers will be able to access each store and payment solution because it handles the billing logic corresponding to each store's payment solution.

The announcement of Fortumo, provider of mobile operator billing solutions, joining the OpenIAB means it will now be much easier to buy apps. This solution gives customers the ability to purchase apps without a credit card or debit card. Developers will have access to customers in 80 countries as part of the Fortumo solutions. When developers place their app in any store that supports OpenIAB billing, they will be able to choose the country and market place they want to use the mobile operator billing solution.

"Very few Android developers currently make the effort to publish and monetize their apps outside of Google (News - Alert) Play,” commented Oleg Orlov, co-coordinator at the One Platform Foundation. “The simple reason is that it takes time and they do not want to integrate payments for each store separately. Fortumo is a welcome partner in the OpenIAB project as their payment SDK already works in most marketplaces. With more partners joining, we can create a critical mass for OpenIAB, change developer behavior and ultimately make their business more profitable."

With more than 25 percent of all Android apps being downloaded outside of Google Play, developers are looking to make their work more available by avoiding the hundreds of thousands of apps competing there. According to the One Platform Foundation, the chances of a developer getting his or her app noticed outside of Google Play is 20 times higher, which means better opportunities for generating revenues.

OpenIAB supports billing for Google Play, Amazon App Store, Samsung (News - Alert) Apps, T-Store and Yandex Store, and with the addition of Fortumo Barnes & Noble's NOOK app store will be part of the platform. The Frotumo integration will be available by the end of March 2014.