WiFi challenge impacting mobile content revenues

CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND: According to Bango, the leading mobile billing and analytics company, over 20 percent of people visiting web sites to purchase content using their mobile phones are now connecting via WiFi.

This presents a major challenge to both content providers and operators as these mobile visitors are unrecognized by the networks, making it difficult to sell and market mobile services to them and significantly impacting mobile content revenues.

Smartphones and high end mobile devices with WiFi, such as Blackberries, the Apple iPhone, Windows Mobile devices, Google Android and Nokia Series 60 (N95, etc) represent the fastest growing mobile phone segment. This means that WiFi is appearing more frequently as a primary connection method across a growing range of handsets, according to data recorded in Bango Analytics.

“The use of WiFi on mobile handsets is becoming pervasive,” said Frank Dickson, Vice President of Research with analyst firm In-Stat. ”By 2010, In-Stat anticipates that 20 percent of the total WiFi chipsets will be used in mobile phones as manufacturers, currently led by Nokia, continue to ship an increasing number of WiFi enabled handsets.”

To access mobile services, customers can now easily connect via WiFi at home, in the workplace and in a variety of public spaces, meaning they are not going through their operator network and are therefore unable to automatically access operator billing and other common network services.

Bango measures connection methods and conversion rates using its ground-breaking mobile analytics technology. Customers connecting in this way cannot be authenticated to pay using simple operator billing which results in an inconsistent payment experience that slashes conversion rates and kills marketing ROI.

In response, Bango is working closely with mobile operators and content providers to develop a unique mobile billing technology that allows customers connected over WiFi, and other non-operator networks, to continue to benefit from fast, consistent, operator billing.

“Operator billing delivers the highest payment conversion rates for mobile content,” says Ray Anderson, CEO of Bango. “These Bango statistics are both a warning and an opportunity for mobile businesses to ensure their mobile billing solution can secure the same high conversion rates from the growing number of WiFi connected customers.”