Bango goes live for Firefox Marketplace

Bango (AIM: BGO), the mobile payment and analytics company, announces that their integration with Mozilla’s Firefox Marketplace is now live. Bango is providing operator billing and other billing options in the first Firefox OS launch markets, meaning Firefox Marketplace users can choose to charge the cost of digital purchases to their phone bill.

The service has launched for Firefox OS customers in both Spain and Colombia, through the mobile network operator Telefónica, while Poland has gone live through T-Mobile. In addition, Venezuela has launched using Bango’s credit card billing connectivity initially, to be followed by operator billing. Further markets are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. The launches leverage Bango’s established direct billing partnerships with both Telefónica Digital and T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom, and follow the May 2013 announcement of a Global Payment Services Agreement between Bango and Mozilla. The Bango Payments Platform enables users of Firefox Marketplace to easily purchase digital content without the need for a credit or debit card. Instead, Bango’s unique billing identification technology ensures users enjoy one-click operator billing, paying on their pre or post-paid phone bill. As a result, Bango achieves industry leading conversion rates.

Today’s announcement represents further endorsement of operator billing as the fast-path to mobile monetization in all territories and particularly in fast-growing, developing markets. Credit cards have low penetration on a global basis and are weighed down by high fixed costs and minimum transaction values. The mass market combination of phone and phone bill means operator billing is ideally suited to high volume, low value transactions for digital content and services, which is highly attractive for developers and publishers.

Firefox OS smartphones are the first built entirely to open Web standards. With more than 20 hardware and operator partners around the world, Firefox OS is filling the need for a fully adaptable, unconstrained mobile platform to deliver an innovative and customizable mobile Web experience that people are missing today. It is an extension of the Firefox desktop and mobile browsing experience that hundreds of millions of people know and love, with all the security, privacy, customization and user control Firefox always delivers.

Ray Anderson CEO of Bango said: "Firefox Marketplace is the first app store to embrace operator billing from launch. We’re proud that Mozilla has chosen Bango, and we are pleased to be opening-up direct operator billing for our partners in these exciting, emerging smartphone markets. For many consumers in fast growth markets, a Firefox OS device will be their first smartphone. Operator billing from Bango enables every user of a smartphone to pay for apps and other digital content with one-click, without exception and even over Wi-Fi.”

Rick Fant, Vice President, Apps and Marketplace for Mozilla added: "Bango will enable Firefox Marketplace to provide flexible monetization for developers and simple payment options for users, with tailored support as Firefox OS devices reach new markets around the globe.”

About Bango

In the era of mobile technology, collecting payments has emerged as a central and complex challenge. Bango powers payment and analytics on the mobile web, providing users with a massively smooth payment experience.

Bango's pervasive presence across the web creates a platform effect for partners, identifying hundreds of millions of users and maximizing the number of one-click payments. Global leaders plug into Bango: customers include Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), BlackBerry World (NASDAQ: BBRY), Windows Phone Store (NASDAQ: MSFT), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and major mobile brands including CNN, Cartoon Network and EA Mobile.

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