Metaverse and Augmented Reality
Augmented reality will become the next big thing: popular, mainstream, mass culture, ubiquitous in 2011; http://eicker.at/1w
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Gerrit Eicker
PayPal Goes Micropayment
PayPal starts offering Web and mobile micropayment for virtual goods: news at FT.com, games on Facebook; http://eicker.at/13
Gerrit Eicker
Second Life Marketplace
Korman, Tinfoil Hat Theory: How are Bunnies, Vampires and the SL Marketplace connected to one another? http://eicker.at/LL3
Gerrit Eicker
Facebook Credits Expansion
Facebook is expanding Facebook Credits to more developers, adds new payment options; http://eicker.at/FacebookCredits
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Gerrit Eicker
Facebook: “Our goal with Facebook Credits is to give people that use Facebook an easy, convenient and trusted way to buy premium items in games and applications, while creating unique opportunities for developers to build successful, sustainable businesses. … We’ve seen a great demand for Facebook Credits since we started testing in May 2009 and expanded the beta in February this year. Facebook Credits are now used in more than 200 games and applications on Facebook from more than 75 developers. … We’ve been listening and working closely with developers to build out Facebook Credits. In addition to offering payments in 15 currencies, we’re introducing new ways to earn and pay for Credits, such as MOL points in Asia and gift cards through Target in the U.S.”
VB: “Facebook has teamed up with social monetization firm PlaySpan to expand its reach to more users around the globe for its Facebook Credits virtual currency. … Now, beyond using credit cards, users will be able to choose from 20 new payment options via PlaySpan’s Ultimate Pay service, allowing for more international purchases. Since credit cards aren’t used in every country, PlaySpan offers more payment options that are used in certain regions. That expands the reach of Facebook games – and the ability to make money from them through credits purchases – to a wider audience. – The PlaySpan payment options will roll out in the coming months, supplementing current payment systems such as credit cards, mobile phone payment services, and PayPal. Through Ultimate Pay, some of the new options include prepaid cards such as PaySafeCard, Wallie-card in Europe, MyCard and Gash cards in Taiwan, and other regional payment services.”
IF: “Deb Liu, a product marketing manager for Facebook Credits, said that a universal currency will encourage users to spend more on digital goods because they won’t have to switch between different currencies offered by separate games. – ‘Users don’t want to go in one game and question buying currency because they have to think about it for the next one,’ she said at the Virtual Goods Summit in San Francisco. ‘That’s a tax on our ecosystem, in terms of the mental energy needed to make a purchase.‘”
AF: “The additional payment options make it easier for developers to expand their international reach and attract a broader set of people, since not everyone has access to credit or debit cards or PayPal. Developers using Facebook Credits won’t have to do anything to offer these new payment options – they’ll appear automatically based on the user’s location. – Facebook did not say whether the upgrade meant Credits are now out of Beta development, but it’s clear that this is an area of focus for the company. Facebook gets a 30% share of the revenue from Credits and with the explosive popularity of social games on the site, it’s an attractive and growing new source of revenue. Facebook has reportedly been exerting pressure on game developers to switch to Credits and recently the biggest player in the sector, Zynga, agreed to do so.”
GigaOM: “The big selling point of the program is that users now have one consistent and unified place to buy virtual currency for almost all social games, which means many of them will have Credits on hand next time a game asks them to pay for something. Liu said developers across the board are seeing 5 to 10 times the number of conversion rates for players who have already bought and stored credits. She said more than half of today’s Facebook game experiences now include Facebook Credits as an option.”
Gerrit Eicker
Virtual Goods
Inside Virtual Goods: U.S. virtual goods market to hit $2.1 billion in 2011; http://j.mp/b0YtUe
Gerrit Eicker
Virtual Goods
PlaySpan survey: The most popular virtual goods are virtual money, weapons, gifts; http://j.mp/oJkbz
PayPal: “PayPal today announced the upcoming availability of PayPal for digital goods, a new in-context, frictionless payment solution that lets consumers pay for digital goods and content in as little as two clicks, without ever having to leave a publisher’s game, news, music, video or media site. The online equivalent of dropping a quarter in the slot to buy a newspaper or play a video game, PayPal’s new solution solves a key problem for the digital goods industry by offering a faster, safer and more cost-effective way to send and receive micropayments globally. … Because PayPal for digital goods is built on PayPal’s sophisticated fraud prevention engine, developers don’t have to worry about building the systems required to protect customers’ sensitive financial information.”
PayPal Digital Goods: “An easy, low-cost way to collect payments for all types of digital goods including games, virtual goods and gifts, software and online media such as ebooks, enews, music, and videos. And, digital goods providers who offer PayPal also have access to PayPal’s active global account holders and network of established relationships with international financial and banking institutions.”
pC: “[PayPal’s] new Mobile Express Checkout allows users to opt-in and remain logged in across mobile apps to make purchases in two clicks. Starbucks will use it to reload of Starbucks Cards directly from its Starbucks Card Mobile app for iPhone and iPod touch. A beta program taps into location-based services on the phone. The new iPhone PayPal app will allow users to find businesses nearby that accept PayPal for mobile payments. Finally, VeriFone is partnering with PayPal to offer merchants the ability to take credit card and PayPal payments in their store – or anywhere – using an application.”
VB: “The announcement comes as eBay continues to focus more on PayPal rather than on its online auctions as the primary revenue stream for the company. Just last quarter, eBay’s auction revenues stopped growing more than 10 percent year-over-year for the first time since late 2009, while PayPal continued to grow at a steady rate. – But this isn’t the first time PayPal has made some kind of promise to jump on board with micropayments. In fact, the company has said it would explore this opportunity for the past six years.”
AF: “PayPal is already one of the payment methods for Facebook Credits but the new system means that Facebook users won’t even have to leave the site to authenticate their purchase. … The lack of a good micro-payment system has been holding back the monetization of digital content for some time. PayPal’s new service, with faster payment and lower fees, could be an important part of the solution, though I hope the company doesn’t end up with a monopoly.”
IF: “PayPal is broadly focusing on social, mobile and local, company product development vice president Osama Beider said on stage at the event today. The focus comes as these markets have exploded, helping to drive PayPal’s own revenue – and spur a variety of alternative payment competitors.”