Ericsson Internet Payment eXchange Payment  offers several alternatives for distributing your content via mobile phone, and of course getting paid for it. Mobile users can select and pay for content using SMS, MMS, WAP/Online Payment and Web.

Premium SMS and MMS: SMS and MMS messages that are billed at a premium rate
Premium WAP: customers purchase content from a WAP portal
Web: customers purchase content from a web site

SMS messages makes it easy for consumers to select and pay for content via their mobile phone. Two SMS billing payment options are available. With Premium Mobile-Originated SMS, consumers send an SMS to the content provider. This is billed at a premium rate, in addition to the traffic charge. With Premium Mobile Terminated SMS, consumers can send a regular SMS message to a predefined short number. The content provider answers with an SMS that is billed at a premium rate, in addition to the traffic charge.

WAP-billing and Online billing is a simple one-click payment method for consumers visiting your mobile web site which allows content and media companies to easily sell their content direct to a potential 2 billion customers across 60 mobile operators in 15 countries including the UK and US. By using ubiquitous WAP/WEB standards, content providers can maximize the reach of sales through a single payment provider. Customers see ads on mobile site for a service and then click on link (ie. weather update), are presented with information and a link to purchase. Once they click they are taken to payment pages with all relevant information where they confirm the purchase which is automatically deducted from the consumer’s pre-paid account or added to their mobile phone bill.

IPX is a non-branded, white labeled solution, which can be fully customized to reflect your brand and visual identity, adding consistency to the customer purchase experience.

MMS is the perfect choice for delivering photos, images and text combined, music clips, icons and ring tones.  You simply send an MMS to a mobile number or an alias that Ericsson IPX assigns to the corresponding mobile number. There’s no need to know which operator the buyer uses. Ericsson IPX manages this automatically. Ericsson IPX can also charge a premium rate for an MMS message, which eliminates the need to use other charging methods.

Web PIN opt-in allows customers to pay for products on the web using their mobile phone account by entering mobile number then receiving a 4 digit PIN to their handset via SMS.  The customer uses this PIN on the web site to authorize the transaction and is charged on their next mobile phone bill. It is a simple and fast 3 step process for purchasing content with no need for entering personal details or credit card numbers and increases sale completion rates. It offers choice of phone or PC purchase and is an alternative to credit card payment for WEB purchases.

IPX can provide information on the mobile number and the country and operator of a customer visiting your mobile web site. Using this information, companies can automatically provide secure authentication for registered users, or deliver country-specific content, enabling a range of new subscription models and services.  This means secure automatic login and access to subscription-based services without entering login details and supports local content and products offerings as well as a mechanism for logging customer purchases for marketing and customer services.