HSBC’s New Rewards Program

Tempo Payments Inc.’s alliance with HSBC Retail Services appears to be bearing fruit. HSBC’s new OptiPay loyalty-rewards PIN-payment program, announced earlier this week, will be the first outside card program to run on Tempo’s network. Positioned as a low-cost alternative to the major payment card networks, San Mateo, Calif.-based Tempo Payments has struggled to add issuers as it signed on acceptance locations. It formed an alliance in May 2006 with Prospect Heights, Ill.-based HSBC—which issues private-label cards for about 65 retailer clients—to accelerate growth in both card-issuing and card-accepting merchants. Tempo Payments has about 200,000 acceptance locations, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., pharmacy chain CVS Corp., and bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc.

Tempo Payments’ business model is based on retailers issuing PIN-debit cards, accepting similar cards from other members of the network, and paying a small processing fee and interchange generally less than the cost of PIN debit on national electronic funds transfers networks and the bank card networks. Transactions are cleared through the automated clearing house. The OptiCard—created through an alliance with Concept Shopping Inc., a Lisle, Ill.-based marketing firm—issues personal rewards to cardholders based on each shopper’s personal purchase history. Customers can swipe their cards at a kiosk in the store to get rewards for additional in-store purchases or go to the retailer’s Web site and get their rewards before even going to the store, an HSBC spokeswoman says.

Sulake eyes IPO in 2008

Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:45 PM BST By Tarmo Virki

HELSINKI, April 23 (Reuters) - Internet company Sulake plans to list next year on the back of strong investor demand for social networking sites, the Finnish firm said on Monday, after it said it bought social networking firm Dynamoid Oy. Sulake, which had 2006 sales of 38.5 million euros ($52.2 million), said it will be the largest Internet company in the Nordics after the deal. The company -- known for its successful Habbo Hotel teenager-networking Web site -- aims to list its shares next year, with the London Stock Exchange and Helsinki bourse the most likely options, its chairman Jussi Nurmio said.

"Internet, distribution, community -- thats what is interesting for the investors. Many investors are interested in this media," Nurmio told Reuters on sidelines of a news conference. Sulake's Chief Executive Timo Soininen said the company was working to make itself ready for the listing, targeting a 20 percent profit margin for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation by the end of 2007. "Within the next 8 to 16 months is our aim (to list)," Soininen said.

Habbo Hotel (http://www.habbo.com/) has over 7 million monthly visitors, with an average age of under 16 years and spending an average one euro a year on the site.
Dynamoid runs Finland's most popular social networking site IRC Galleria which has more than 400,000 registered users, who spend on average around 20 hours a month on the site. Sulake's CEO said he was not worried about sales growth slowing to just 29 percent in 2006, after it at least doubled its revenues for several years.

"I think we have a good chance to continue growing at a super speed, over 50 percent a year," said CEO Soininen. "In the United States we have only scratched the surface, our advertisement sales are only at the beginning and also the acquisition gives a boost." Dynamoid has started up first networking sites in Russia and Germany and Sulake said more will follow shortly. Sulake has operations in around 20 countries.

Sulake said it hopes to take on competition from much bigger rivals such as MySpace. It said IRC Galleria users spend 10 times more time on the site than users of its many larger rivals. "The usage numbers are amazing. The countries are not that different, so it is clear that the model works also elsewhere," chairman Nurmio said.
Sulake's main owners are Finnish ad agency Taivas, which is partly owned by British giant WPP , venture firms 3i and Benchmark Capital, and telecoms operator Elisa .

Ericsson says Payforit pays

By Tony Dennis: Thursday 12 April 2007, 12:25
ON THE quiet, the UK mobile network operators have been moving towards a generic 'branded' mobile payments system called 'Payfor it'. Ericsson has revealed that its implementation has raised sales by 20 per cent. Peter Garside, regional manager with Ericsson IPX, told the INQ that his company has been providing Payforit services to three UK operators – T-Mobile, Virgin, and Vodafone since December 2006. The idea with Payforit is that the operators qualify suppliers to offer the service in order to offer a trusted mobile payment service to subscribers.

Ericsson had previously being offering its own 'unbranded' service which it simply called WAP billing. The company's research has shown that amongst its own customers, those who have switched to Payforit have seen remarkable results. The number of one-off payments – for items such as ringtones – has risen by an impressive 20 per cent. Ericsson currently provides Payforit to around 11 content providers offering approximately 130 services.

According to Garside, the rise is because the Payforit brand "has instilled confidence in consumers. They now feel far more comfortable about purchasing content when they see the Payforit name." Garside claims that other companies have gained accreditation to offer Payforit but they haven't gone live yet.

HABBO & IRC Galleria Merger (Leveraging Habbo's Infrastructure)

Sulake Corporation, the company behind Habbo takes a strong step towards the social networking scene by acquiring Finland's leading social networking service IRC-Galleria. The acquisition makes Sulake the biggest company in online communities and virtual worlds in the Nordic region. Sulake's online services now reach more young people than any other media in Finland.

Sulake's long-term goal has been to broaden its product portfolio with new online services, which can be launched internationally by utilizing the unique international network Sulake has built for Habbo. Currently Sulake has offices in 19 countries with a staff of over 300, over 150 payment methods in 32 countries, global hosting centers as well as distribution and marketing partners all over the world.

The objective of the deal is to launch a new social networking service based on IRC-Galleria concept to carefully selected countries using Sulake's infrastructure and experience. The IRC-Galleria concept has localized versions already in Russia, Estonia, Lithuania and Germany.

Nexon's Min Kim on Microtransactions and Billing

"For years, the industry has said item selling (microtransactions) would not work with the console driven North American market. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find similar adoption patterns in the US, as in Asia. Not only did MapleStory’s registrations take off; many players were purchasing Nexon Cash to access our virtual items.

"One of the early challenges for Nexon was billing. MapleStory is free to play, and all revenue is generated through item sales. The items are one of MapleStory’s most unique features as they allow players to create truly distinctive avatars. However, at the outset with PayPal being the only payment vehicle, the good majority of our user base (teens to early twenties) could not purchase our virtual currency, Nexon Cash. This issue has been ameliorated by the release of our prepaid cards at all Target outlets nationwide. The cards have been flying off the shelves, and we have had several reports of stores with no stock several days after the initial release on January 16th, 2007.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=12928

Nexon Prepaids at Target

Nexon also announces a second print run for its Nexon Game Cards at Target stores nationwide. The partnership with Target Corporation is the first of its kind for a mass-market retailer and MMO publisher, enabling consumers to redeem real dollars for virtual in-game items and accessories within MapleStory and its upcoming Audition. The gift cards are available now at all Target retailers for purchase in denominations of $10 and $25.http://www.gamersmark.com/news/2007/03/1/9202

BSG Rolls Out Telco Payment Services

A San Antonio, Texas company that specializes in clearing and settling consumer charges for telecommunications companies has signed up seven sellers of digital content for a new online payments gateway that lets users charge downloads to their phone bills. The seven undisclosed merchants are the first clients for what BSG Clearing Solutions North America says should be a popular payment option as more merchants seek out ways to sell online content for what are called micropayments—transactions of $5 or less. “It’s a significant opportunity,” says Greg Carter, president for fixed lines and payment services at the company. “We’ve gotten aggressive to go after merchants.”http://www.digitaltransactions.net/newsstory.cfm?newsid=1290

Eve Online's Payment "Options"

They offer credit cards, paybycash and prepaid "game time cards"... pretty interesting that they are expanding their prepaid retail distribution:
http://support.eve-online.com/Pages/KB/Article.aspx?id=21

1st Vietnamese Mobile Payment Platform

VinaPay launches Vietnam's 1st mobile payment platform. VinaPay is the first-ever Vietnamese mobile payment platform that offers electronic transaction services to mobile operators, banks, retailers and end-users, facilitating cashless business transactions.http://www.thanhniennews.com/business/?catid=2&newsid=27019

Yeepay Interview (China Payment Market)

Market Platform Dynamics recently interviewed YeePay CEO Bin Tang about the Payments Ecosystem Challenges and Opportunities in China and has posted it on their Paying with Plastic website. YeePay recently announced the completion of a round of financing led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DFJ Dragon and joined by Intel Capital China, WR Hambrecht and several other institutional investors

In the interview, Tang notes:
Payment is a “long haul” business, consumer/merchant adoption, market acceptance all take a long time to build, nothing’s going to happen overnight. So it takes a lot of patience. Also, payment is not only about technology, it’s more about building an ecosystem, with banks, merchants, consumers and the payment provider, it requires a lot of sophisticated planning and execution. YeePay recently announced the completion of a round of financing led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DFJ Dragon and joined by Intel Capital China, WR Hambrecht and several other institutional investors

http://www.marketplatforms.com/payingwithplastic/people/

Skype to Offer Money-Transfer System Via Paypal

Reuters reports that "web telephone calling service Skype will shortly begin allowing users to send money to other Skype users via the PayPal online payments system, Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom said on Tuesday."

This stuff is easy? How Google fsck'ed up their biller

The Google Billing story: "I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, killed the biller, and started trying to figure out what the fsck was going on. (For you non-programmers out there, that's a little geek insider joke. Fsck is a unix command. It's short for File SystemChecK.) http://xooglers.blogspot.com/2005/11/billing-disaster.html

Puzzle Pirates Mobile Payment Network

Can I pay via Text Messages (SMS)?

We are currently offering players in the following countries to buy doubloons and subscriptions via text messages: UK, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany and Austria.

http://www.puzzlepirates.com/Pricing.xhtml

Paypal's Story (Great Read!)

Chris Skinner on PayPal's first 100 months:
In March 2007, PayPal celebrated being 100 months old. Yes, the upstart firm with only 133 million users and more merchants than Visa, MasterCard and American Express combined, is just 100 months old. It is a pure child. Younger than MacAuley Caulkin in Home Alone, and just a bit older than Drew Barrymore when she starred in E.T., PayPal is striking way above its weight … striking fear in some bankers' hearts and hope in the social revolution of the Internet age. But what is PayPal really all about, why does it work the way it does and where is it going in the future? I was lucky enough to find out by visiting PayPal's UK Headquarters to get an update on PayPal Mobile, PayPal Europe and PayPal worldwide, so here's the low-down.
htttp://finextra.com/fullfeature.asp?id=890

Smilehouse 20+ payment system gateway

A great tool for sites to connect to 20+ payment systems both international and in Scandinavia, Benelux and Baltics: "More than 20 payment systemes supported! Workspace has ready-made integrations to many payment systems. New systems are added continuously. The Merchant can manage payment systems used in the webshop through Payment Gateway module in administration interface." Here is the list:
http://www.smilehouse.com/payment_gateway_support_for_paypal_google_checkout_ogone_chronopay_itransact-147.html

UKash European Expansion

Currently issued in the UK, Ireland, Spain and Germany, Ukash is now available for the millions of consumers in 16 additional countries across Europe who don't have or don't wish to use credit or debit cards online. Now cash consumers in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden can get Ukash at their nearest bank branch by completing a simple paying-in slip. They will then receive an email or SMS message with their unique and secure 19-digit Ukash voucher number. This voucher number is used when they are asked to pay at any of the hundreds of web sites that accept Ukash. If they have a bank account but don't want to give out their details online, they can make a bank transfer, either at their bank, or using internet banking, and receive their Ukash voucher by email or SMS direct to their mobile. In the UK, Ireland, Spain and Germany, consumers can get Ukash vouchers from thousands of stores such as convenience stores, newsagents and petrol stations.
http://www.finextra.com/fullpr.asp?id=14284

Buy a stuffed animal get an online account at Webkinz

Great idea! " Once Jake used the secret code that came with his store-bought bulldog to create an online version at Webkinz.com, he committed to feeding and shopping for the pup regularly while interacting with other kids and their virtual pets on the Internet. "You have to play it mostly every two days or every day, because if you don't, then their health meter goes all the way down and they'll get sick," Jake says matter-of-factly. "I do it just about every day because I just really, really like it." Webkinz.com is one of a growing number of social-networking sites aimed at the teen set ...Ganz makes more than 40 Webkinz and about 25 smaller versions called Lil' Kinz. Each comes with a year of online access, though that can be renewed when kids buy another toy - if they can find them.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/bal-te.bz.kids05apr05,0,3748195.story?coll=chi-bizfront-hed

Stardoll in 5 languages and Mobile BIlling in Multiple Countries

... the launch of the French, Italian, and Spanish language versions of www.stardoll.com, an online celebrity dress-up and community site for everyone who likes fashion and celebrities. In addition to the German version launched before the holiday season, these newly localized sites dramatically increase the potential audience for Stardoll.com in each language market.

Stardoll.com CEO, Mattias Miksche, said, “We started with an English version and built a tremendous audience. Now we have an opportunity to extend our community to an even larger global audience. Our membership base has grown from 3.5 million to 5.5 million in just three months and we anticipate that significant growth will come from the localized sites.”

About Stardoll.com

At Stardoll.com, users can create their own virtual doll to style and interact with or choose from the always-growing collection of celebrity dolls and dress them up in virtual fashions.

Clothes and accessories for the personalized dolls and their rooms are paid for with Stardollars, a virtual currency that is bought with real money via credit card or premium SMS payments. Stardoll.com investors include Index Ventures, whose track record includes Skype and Infospace, among many others, and Sequoia Capital, whose track record includes Yahoo, Google, and YouTube, among many others.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070320005090&newsLang=en

Why is Runescape successful? Beause it costs $5 a month!

"Until recently, most MMOGs were only offering consumers the subscription business model, which limited their payment options. Younger consumers, without access to a credit card or unable to get their parents to agree to a $15 a month payment ("That's as much as cable!"), have been underrepresented in the MMOG space. The average age of an MMOG player was about 25 years old. As discussed in detail in our report, more affordable games like the digitally distributed Runescape by Jagex are finally bringing younger players to the genre. Runsecape has 850,000 subscribers at $5 a month and it was never released at retail. This group of consumers have proven to be a lucrative force in the rest of the interactive entertainment market and they could be the true key for expansion of MMOGs. With the introduction of other business models, such as the Korean imported free-to-play/digital item sales model, the market could broaden even more."
http://www.gameinfowire.com/news.asp?nid=10288

HABBO MiniCards

Great idea: Habbo mini cards. Habbo and Moo have teamed up to make Habbo MiniCards! Select different backgrounds, position your Habbo avatar and enter your own text in little speech bubbles, to make a unique set of wonderful cards.

A box of 100 cards made with your own Habbo costs £9.99 / $19.99/ €14.99.made for you. http://www.moo.com/blog/2007/03/05/minicards-now-in-habbo-flavour/

Country-specific payments pay off

On Zigiz.com, the player has a choice between different payment systems. This is due to the fact that not everyone has a credit card or online wallet, and also because the availability of payment systems differ from country to country. Reinout te Brake:
"For example, payment solutions like IDeal and RaboDirect are available in the Netherlands, but not accessible to German or Spanish players. As one of the first game publishers, we therefore invested in a country-specific payment environment in which different renowned payment systems are integrated. This way, players can opt for payment via bill settlement systems such as IDeal , MasterCard , RaboDirect and Click&Buy . It is also possible to buy credits via an SMS or a national paying number. Since the introduction of the new payment system, the conversion degree has shown a considerable increase: the number of players that play in the "play for real" environment, has increased markedly in the last few months."
http://casualgames.web-log.nl/casualgames/spill_group/index.html

Boonty's Payment System & Starmedia

Boonty partners with Starmedia in South America and Hispanic USA http://www.boonty.net/news_and_blogs/2003/12/boonty_expands_.html
"If they decide to purchase the game, StarMedia customers can do so via the International payment system integrated in the Boonty Solution. The Boonty catalogue offers an extensive range of games made by various game publishers such as Acclaim, Atari, GameHouse, UbiSoft or Wildtangent, are offered between € 9.95 and € 35.95."

Offline Payments (Ukash & Habbo & Stardoll & Faketown)

Engaging with the 50% of teens and young adults that lack a credit card to pay online1 has become a major challenge to the online Social Networks. At stake is a share of the £20 billion worth of income that it’s estimated the UK’s 6.7m 11-17 year olds have at their disposal.
It’s so much more convenient and secure for these to use cash online, and now, with Ukash cash vouchers they can, as Ukash is now accepted on a number of major Social Networks including Habbo Hotel, Stardoll and Faketown.
http://www.sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=29945&hilite=

$1Billion market (but how do you make the money?)

According to a research by analysts ‘Screen Digest’, millions of people are now occupying virtual online worlds, and the market for massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) is worth more than 1 billion dollars, in the West. Games such as World of Warcraft and worlds like Habbo Hotel are fast becoming ‘significant platforms’ in the converged media world’. "There`s a whole ream of different genres and spaces emerging," a private news channel quoted the report author Piers Harding-Rolls, as saying. “Revenues from subscriptions to MMOGs will rise to 1.5bn by 2011,” he said. http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=361534&ssid=29&sid=ENV

GoPets gets mobile billing with TxtNation

GoPets have teamed up with txtNation to deliver premium content to their millions of users

GoPets, the Seoul-based virtual community, has over half a million end-users. With a truly global community, based on interactive pets, a truly global billing platform was required. GoPets have teamed up with txtNation, the leading supplier of adGvanced billing solutions, to deliver premium content regardless of the end-user’s location or payment. (below the blah blah of the press release). preference.http://www.clickpress.com/releases/Detailed/27537005cp.shtml

Mobile Payments Expensive Down-Under

The cost of transactions is putting New Zealanders off using cell phones to make payments. Fees are the greatest barrier to uptake of m-payment options, says mobile technology researcher Associate Professor Dennis Viehland.
http://masseynews.massey.ac.nz/2007/Massey_News/issue-02/stories/04-02-07.html

Skype, Jyve & Click&Buy

Jyve teamed up with Click&Buy to process online payments made by community users seeking expert, monetizable advice. Click&Buy's commission rate: 15 percent. Skype says its new Skype Prime product is still in the very early stages of its lifecycle and was "built from the ground up" just like Skype itself. And who are we to say it wasn't? Perhaps they were just too slow about releasing it. But you have to admit the timing's fishy, and the 30 percent commission seems inordinately steep, considering two lesser-known competitors (without the leverage of 171 million users and all that eBay money) are offering a similar – really similar – service for half the price.

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2007/03/15/skype-thinks-twice-the-price-is-nice

Skype's Payment Partners

Partnerships with the following companies allow Skypers to pay in 14 currencies on Skype.com for SkypeIn, SkypeOut, Skype Voicemail, ringtones and avatars:

• Bibit
  Credit Card processing, offline bank transfers and online banking.
• Click&Buy from Firstgate
  Account-based payments service provider in 18 countries.
• Global Collect
  Online banking and offline bank transfers in 40 countries.
• Mobiltron
  Prepaid cards available in retail stores (e.g. in Scandinavia).
• Moneybookers
  Local payment methods in 33 countries.
• PayByCash
  Cash payments and other alternative payment methods.
• PayPal
  The leading online payments company, part of eBay like Skype.
• ProcCyber
  Credit Card processing.
• Ukash
  Retail payments in cash in thousands of shops, so far only in Western Europe.

http://about.skype.com/payment.html

WOW bringing old and new players together

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade sold through approximately 3.5 million copies within one month following its mid-January launch in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia. This includes nearly 1.6 million sold in Europe, and more than 1.9 million sold in regions that play on North American realms, including more than 100,000 copies in Australasia. World of Warcraft’s worldwide subscriber base now numbers more than 8.5 million and is continuing to grow as new and returning players join existing players in the game. "World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees’ territories are defined along the same rules."
http://www.gameinfowire.com/news.asp?nid=10204

Clever extension of subscriber base...

Second Life for Casual Gamers "Flowplay" ... but based on Club Penguin

Another ex-Real Networks Exec starts a virtual world a la Philip Rosedale... "Derrick Morton left RealNetworks last September to create FlowPlay, a startup that he describes as a "virtual world platform powered by casual gaming. "Morton said he is basing FlowPlay on the success of ClubPenguin.com, a virtual world for kids between the ages of eight to 14. The Kelowna, B.C., startup -- which Morton said is "exploding" with more than 1 million monthly visitors -- allows kids to sign up for free, but also charges monthly subscription fees of $5.95. "FlowPlay plans to differentiate itself from ClubPenguin by going after older teenagers. (According to ComScore Media Metrix, about 30 percent of casual game players are under the age of 24). That's an area also being targeted by Doppelganger, a San Francisco startup that recently landed $5 million.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/archives/112180.asp

Boonty's Payment Network (Payment Platform for Game-makers)

"Do you think the integration of the e-commerce engine will prove an incentive to developers?" Yes. We have implemented into the Boonty network over 85 billing systems around the world, and it is simply way too much to integrate/maintain for ordinary developer. Furthermore, having an engine tied to a microtransaction business model will also provide them with additional revenue opportunities."

Virtual World Prepaid Cards (Maplestory in Target)

Maplestory launched a prepaid card in Target (http://www.nexon.net/). Here is a BusinessWeek article on them mentioning the prepaid cards: www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_13/b4027047.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_top+stories
"Now the question is, will Americans spend real money in virtual worlds? (Older games rake in subscriptions or down- load fees.) MapleStory "was a litmus test to see if U.S. audiences would have spending patterns similar to Korea," says Min Kim, Nexon America's director of game operations. To make it easy, Nexon Cash cards, which are used to buy digital goods, are being sold at Target (TGT ) stores. So far, so good: In February, North American players spent $1.6 million on 600,000 virtual products within MapleStory."