Vodafone will now outsource its music, game and video content to mia.
mia will provide the site, content, hosting, charging, delivery and support for Vodafone, with music content coming from record labels which mia has licence agreements with.
The service will use mia’s Sphere API platform to host content and will pass charges directly through Vodafone’s billing API. It will also include in-app billing and reconciliation on Android phones.
“So effectively, people can buy music or games and we can just put the charge straight onto pre-paid or post-paid accounts, and then we have the ability to connect to other third parties through the Sphere API,” Jon Mooney, mia chief operating officer, told Computerworld Australia.
“So if we want to offer other branded services, for example, someone like Electronic Arts, we can connect them through the Sphere platform, through the API and then we can provide the billing functionality to those third parties as well. That’s what they’re really using it for – us connecting in and providing that interface to the Vodafone customers.”
Providing Vodafone customers with a direct billing process through their bills will negate the need for user logins or credit card payments.
Mooney believes this type of billing system is a growth area as the popularity of completing transactions on mobile devices increases. This will require companies to streamline their billing functions to make it easier for customers to purchase content and services on their mobile.
However, the fast-moving space of mobile devices and how consumers use them means companies like mia need to ensure their platforms and technology covers the entire market — and stay one step ahead of it.
“We have an innovation group and a future looking team who spend a lot of time looking at the trends and where the technologies are moving in the marketplace to make sure we are moving quickly,” Mooney said.
“I think it’s impossible to predict every move, but you’ve got to create the right environment so you can move in the right direction when you need to.”
This means creating a platform which can evolve and adapt to a changing environment and not focusing on any one particular device or operating system.
“It’s about what everyone has in the market and trying to provide that experience to all devices. That’s always been, from day one, what we’ve done and that’s still what we do today,” Mooney said.
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