Taking billing power away from operators?

For years I have been waiting for the killer app. Literally years. And now it might be here, though not everyone agrees, largely because it has come along in the form of a nebulous sort of ball of change that is sweeping over the telecoms, content, entertainment and marketing industries like a rolling summer storm.

I talk of the change ushered in by the iPhone, Android and the apps store revolution. Oh no, not bloody apps again, I hear you shriek. Like girls. But bear with me, I think we are in the middle of something special here.

The iPhone has raised the bar in what consumers – whether they have a smartphone of not – expect. This has had a knock on consequence of changing how brands want to interact with those consumers. It has also fundamentally shifted power away from mobile network operators both in terms of network use and in billing.

And to my mind these shifts are a very good thing at a very tough time.

Take networks first. The wifi capability of smartphones is seeing more and more surfing being done outside of the control of the MNO. They can’t see what you are up to and it is also offering a blast of self determinism among customers. As this trend increases, the veracity of offering wider wifi (Wimax) networks in cities and other shared spaced gathers pace. The once seemingly unshakable qunitopoly grip (in the UK) on network – and therefore price – is being relaxed.

Which leads nicely to the second thing that this revolution is, err, revolutionising: billing. Operator billing has some advantages. But it has many, many disadvantages. And these are now being capably addressed in our brave new world.

Mobile web and wifi, apps and smartphones are all making other microbilling tools viable for use. Credit card services run by TxtTrans, TxtNation, TeleBilling and others are suddenly all the rage. Per minute credit card billing is now also possible with Core. And Wallets and even bankless payments – courtesy of PayPal and UKash – are also gaining ground.

The mantra that operator billing is easy and trusted is slowly being blown out of the water. People now trust new billing tools, because they work with their smart device, which they trust. And indeed, right now it is. TxtNation reports that PSMS is still the biggest billing tool for microbilling on merchant websites, but it is early days. This will change.

And yet, still there are some that argue that Apps And All That (A3T, as I like think of it) is not a mass market and that really the old way is the best way – and will stay as the best way. It can be no coincidence that within a week of each other, both Bango and Netsize – now pretty much 'the establishment' when it comes to billing – have released solutions that aim to bring the new world back into the grubby mits of the old. Bango is offering operator billing over wifi and Netsize is doing the same for in app billing.

Both cite that operator billing still brings about more sales and that people trust it. But I am not so sure. To me it seems that the old guard are determined not to be outflanked by the new. As we reveal in our features in the inaugural issue of T360, the final part of the A3T revolution is that it is shaking up business models. Things aren’t like they used to be. And that is good.

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