News

Alipay boosts revenue opportunities

We are happy to announce that Nokia Store consumers in China can now use Alipay to pay for apps and in-app purchases. Alipay is China’s leading third-party payment system, with:

• over 650 million registered users
• 33 million transactions a day
• ¥450M (€54M, $71M) in payments per day

Nokia Store consumers in China can now enjoy:

• previously unavailable premium content that are priced higher than ¥2 (now ¥3 to ¥100)
• purchases using a common payment method

Nokia Store publishers can now enjoy:

• greater price points
• increased consumer purchases, downloads, and revenue

Easy payment flow

When Nokia Store consumers in China attempt to buy an app or in-app purchase, they see Alipay as a valid payment method. When they select Alipay, they are directed to the Alipay website to make the payment. When the payment is completed, they are re-directed back to Nokia Store.

Here is an example of the payment flow:

Click image to enlarge

Automatic setup

Alipay is enabled automatically.

• Consumers simply need an existing Alipay account. They don’t need to associate it with their Nokia account beforehand. They simply sign into their Alipay accounts during the payment flow.
• Publishers also don’t need to select Alipay as a payment method. Alipay is automatically available for all apps and in-app purchases in China.

Greater price points

Previously, operator billing in China supported only Nokia Store content with the price points of ¥1 and ¥2. Publishers who wanted to distribute apps to China sometimes had to create two separate content items: one with a lower price point for China and another with a higher price point for other countries.

Alipay supports the full range of 15 possible Nokia Store price points, allowing purchases of ¥1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 80, and 100. Publishers can now:

• choose a diverse range of higher price points for apps and in-app purchases
• use a single Nokia Store content item to provide the same app to China and other countries

Rich revenue sharing

Alipay has the same revenue sharing model as credit card and operator billing, with 70% of revenue paid to content publishers and 30% to Nokia.

Availability

Currently, Alipay availability is as follows:

• Countries — China. Not currently supported in Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Macau.
• App Purchases — Series 40, S60, and Symbian^3 (including Nokia Anna, Nokia Belle) phones. Not currently supported on MeeGo or Maemo phones.
• In-App Purchases — Symbian^3 phones.

Resources

• Billing Matrix — Describes how global price points map to regional currencies.
• Publisher Guide — Describes how to use Nokia Publish to update a price point.

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