Firms Combine Leading Software Distribution, Embedded Licensing and Payment Technologies
Handango, the leading provider of mobile downloads, and Openbit, a leader in embedded digital rights management (DRM)
and m-commerce, announced a far-reaching strategic partnership. The collaboration encompasses technology integration; support for mobile developers; and joint sales to mobile operators, phone manufacturers and retailers.
The two firms will integrate their product roadmaps and their billing systems, enabling on-device commerce worldwide and carrier-integrated billing in 20 countries through nearly 70 mobile network operators.
“License Manager from Openbit is great technology, but more importantly, it’s easy to use for both developers and customers,” said Randy Eisenman, president and chief executive officer of Handango. “We are excited to deliver
these benefits and additional revenue to our developer partners and licensees.”
“Handango is the ideal partner for Openbit,” said Arto Lehtonen, chief executive officer of Openbit. “Their great team, impressive distribution technology, strong relationships with developers and extensive network of major partners throughout the wireless market mean that our technology will
receive massive exposure to the right people.”
Benefits for Developers
Under terms of the partnership, Handango will work with Symbian OS software developers to integrate License Manager, Openbit’s embedded DRM and commerce solution, into their applications. Handango will incorporate these
applications into its market-leading catalog of more than 50,000 mobile applications.
License Manager gives developers many compelling benefits including:
– Super Distribution — License Manager enables customers to send applications to others while maintaining source integrity in the payment process. This viral marketing provides a powerful way to spread applications to new customers.
– Security — With License Manager, piracy is eradicated through dvanced forms of encryption and digital signing. License Manager protects the integrity of applications even after the application is sent from another person.
– Payment Methods — Customers can purchase using Premium SMS, debit card and credit card, enabling commerce for all spectrums of the consumer market.
– Multiple License Versions — With License Manager, developers can create new types of licenses for their applications. Licenses can be easily created for a specific time limit (e.g. 7, 30 or 90 days), usages or recurring subscription, capturing new sources of revenue and maximize recurring revenues.
– Impulse Purchases — License Manager makes it easy for customers to purchase from the device in one click.
– Higher Try/Buy Conversion — The billing methods, on-device
integration and viral distribution allow developers to maximize the conversion of trial downloads into purchases. In past examples, developers have more than doubled their conversion ratios.
– Simplified Build Process — Without License Manager, developers may be required to build a unique version of their application for each sales channel, meaning developers can save time by creating a single build of their applications.
To jumpstart the pool of License Manager-integrated applications, Handango is offering any developer who integrates License Manager by November 5, 2004 a US$1,500 marketing package.
Benefits for Mobile Operators, Phone Manufacturers and Retailers
License Manager enables new business models around the distribution of trial applications. Operators can focus their portals around downloads, improving data usage and encouraging active application use among the subscriber base.
Further, when License Manager-integrated applications are shared peer-to-peer, the origin of the application download is preserved; the portal responsible for the download receives full credit for their customer acquisition activities. Thus, mobile operators, phone manufacturers and retailers benefit from peer-to-peer distribution.
Mobile operators, in particular, benefit from License Manager-integrated applications because they drive Premium SMS traffic from the sale of periodic licenses.
Handango’s licensees distributing Symbian OS content include Sony Ericsson, My-Symbian, Cingular Wireless, Yahoo! and AOL. These licensees will benefit immediately from super distribution, driving additional mobile data revenues for each.
Together, Handango and Openbit will also sell bundles of Handango AMPP, Handango’s application management and provisioning platform, and License Manager-integrated applications to mobile operators, handset manufacturers
and retailers.