Boku Blog

Posts Tagged ‘social media’

Direct Payments vs. Lead-gen

November 7, 2009

It’s been a week since the Virtual Goods Summit.  A great show put on by Charles Hudson and David Sachs.  The last session of the last day had some interesting fireworks.  Mike Arrington from Techcrunch traded words with Anu Shukla of Offerpal around the lead-gen business (great summary by VentureBeat here: http://bit.ly/2YLHIl).

I thought it might be worthwhile posting our thoughts on the space as we’re partnered with many of the payments aggregators to provide direct mobile payments, which means our direct-payment button appears in some screenshots near the types of offers that are under review.

We have built BOKU as a direct payments company, in the same category as Paypal, VISA, and other major credit cards.  We are purely focused on mobile payments.  BOKU does *zero* lead generation, CPA, subscription offers, IQ quizzes or the like. We enable customers to purchase virtual goods and currencies directly (not indirectly) via their mobile phone.  The offers that are being discussed in the blogosphere are around those companies that provide subscription services after lead-gen offers like quizzes, IQ tests, or wallpaper downloads, etc.   **BOKU does not provide such services.**

BOKU does not target an under-age audience, and avoids entirely the use of any subscription offers and lead generation techniques. In essence, we do the same things that VISA and Paypal do.  Our direct payment system is highly secure, and in lock-step with the policies and standards of the credit card industry.

Overall, we think it benefits the industry to have a open discussion around keeping customers safe as it relates to this lead-gen business. We look forward to the results of the efforts of platforms (social networks), games and offer providers to ensure that in the end the industry that we’re all working for, keeps the customer safe and secure, as they are the core of ours, and any business.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions. ron [at] boku dotcom or press [at] boku dotcom.

To view how our service works, see this video here:

Posted by Ron | Mobile Payments, security, social networking

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MobileBeat 2009: The social media and content break-out

July 17, 2009

Good session today on social media and content.

Here are a few highlights:

  • Facebook is creating mobile apps in partnership with handset manufacturers and carriers, not just the iPhone because of country/geographic need. For example, the blackberry app is huge in Indonesia. Each one requires customization due to unique requirements.
  • Mark Pincus and Shirven Pishevar had some product suggestions for Henri Moissiniac from Facebook that include adding a “games” tab.
  • Zynga – 17 million daily uniques and ~60 million monthlies. If I heard it correctly, 50% of their app users are using FBConnect and those that do have higher engagement. They hacked the original FBConnect, prior to the mobile version’s release to enable FBConnect for their mobile apps.
  • Interesting Apple iTunes micro-transaction restriction only allows micro-transactions within paid apps. This means that “free-to-play” isn’t as possible on iPhone. Currently Zynga has to create multiple versions of the same app for different prices/features.
  • Great question came up of whether Apple would ever allow its billing platform to be accessed outside of the iTunes store. Facebook is more focused on this opportunity, and possibly better suited.
  • On the question of longevity, the panel unanimously agreed that this is far from a fad and will continue, unlike ringtones and wallpaper on mobile phones.
  • Offers on mobile aren’t working – Zynga tested and “threw them out”
  • Shervin sees games as pleasant distractions that are sought out enjoyment, like a Pixar movie.
  • Mark believes that people will only discover games if enticed by social relationships to try them out because of the busy nature of our lives
  • David Marcus – Frictionless nature of mobile payments work well for impulse purchases.
  • The #1 position in the iTunes app store is worth 30-40,000 downloads a day – Shervin
  • A lot of focus was given to Facebook and iPhone as the platforms of choice. Mark put this as, “Fishing where the fish are.”

Overall, the explosion of these mobile games leveraging social connections is bringing in gamers (new and old) and creating additional opportunities to monetize beyond the download. It’s an easy prediction that Apple will change the rule that in-app billing can only occur for paid apps; it’s just a matter of when. Where we’re going to move is to a connected gaming experience across devices leveraging the social network. Many of us who weren’t prior, will be playing synchronous and asynchronous games with friends and family as a way to blow off steam and “connect.”

Posted by Ron | online game sites, social networking

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Icebreaker integrates BOKU

July 16, 2009

In addition to being selected as one of 7 services as “Top Start-Up” by judges at MobileBeat2009, we also announced our integration with Icebreaker and their Crush or Flush mobile social network.

With BOKU, Icebreaker users are able to purchase “Coins,” a virtual currency, for use on the Crush or Flush™ mobile social network with their mobile phones, bringing the convenience of mobile payments to the mobile community. Additionally, BOKU enables Icebreaker to bill for coins in instances where WAP billing is not available.

Posted by Ron | integration, social networking

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