After Google's Checkout, now Rovio offers new in-app payments

After Google’s payment platform “Checkout” now Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds has launched an in-app carrier-billing payment system.

Rovio CEO Peter Vesterbacka said during the launch of ‘Bad Piggy Bank’ that the payment system will provide consumers an alternative, especially in countries where credit cards are still not popularly used. It allows buying in-app content without having to register, he said.

Vesterbacka said the initiative answers the frustration faced with Android’s payment system, which prompted Rovio to offer Angry Birds for free with ads on Android.

It is more than four years since Google launched the first payment platform called “checkout”, a payment platform for AdWords customers offering an Android extension for Google Checkout.

The idea was to allow merchants and vendors accept credit and debit transactions when cash is not readily available. The only requirement in this system is that both parties have access to their Google Checkout account. Google had undertaken huge promotional campaign when it introduced this feature.

Google believed that the combination of Google Checkout and AdWords would give their advertisers a complete solution to attract customers through Google and processing the sales. The search engine also hoped that this service would help in pushing one's business prospects.

But it provides limited options. Some credit cards associated with Checkout account can't be used to purchase in-apps from other countries. In some countries, in-apps cannot be even be bought. To have proper growth in this segment, Google needed to get paid for in-apps working in all countries where Android phones were sold.

However, the Bad Piggy Bank doesn't require the input of credit card details, and will download the purchase as soon as one taps the button, so it makes it very simple indeed. It then charges the in-game purchase to the mobile phone bill.

“Everyone would agree the payment and purchase experience (on Android) has been less than excellent. We’re trying to make that a lot better, We’re about choice. It’s always better to offer consumers choice,” said Vesterbacka.

Now there is a possibility that this ‘In-app payments’ by Rovio might create a competitive field for the application markets like Apple’s App Store, which takes a cut in app purchases and third-party payment services like PayPal, Boku and Zong, which are also entering the in-app payments segment.