“Everyone has a Latino inside them,“ Paulina Rubio, Mexican singer

At the end of July Fortumo made a leap further than usual and expanded to Latin America.

Fortumo users are now invited to create mobile services in Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela. A month in the Latino market has illustrated that it is a growing economy.

This month’s Fortumo user’s service is a great example of how every citizen can take part in country’s politics and government work. It is an innovative and simple way for everyone to say what they think. And all this – with the help of Fortumo’s services! Check out the interview with Meelis Valtna, one of the founders of this great idea!

What is your website baromeeter.ee about?
Exaggeratedly and primitively said baromeeter.ee is “political rate” – for Estonians it says much (rate.ee is a very popular social network in Estonia based on ratings – M.V.). It is a laconic, emotionless website where you can assess Estonian parties’, government’s and parliament’s work.

Whom is it for?
Correct answer would be, of course, for everyone. Actually, baromeeter.ee is an effort to bring young people closer to politics through rating system which is very popular online activity for most of the young people in Estonia. In addition, giving votes and having rankings is playful and offers instant feedback. With this we also hope to give voice for those, who are in distance, doing their everyday stuff and mumble “My voice means nothing. So, it doesn’t matter.”. Well, it does matter and you can see the proof from baromeeter.ee! We also consider very important to recognise less known countryside politicians, who are not reflected that much in everyday news, but who do honest and genuine politics for their parish or town people. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s time to congratulate Fortumo big time! We have reached a round number of countries again – 40! Let the Vietnamese flag’s star be the one representing this great event (like a red cherry on top of a vanilla ice-cream)! Read the rest of this entry »

July is the hottest month of the year. This is the perfect time for sunbaths, beach parties and cool cocktails. Nevertheless, at Fortumo we have decided to sacrifice all of these in order to keep the high expansion rate of ours. We sat down and had a look at Fortumo’s coverage map. It came as no surprise that Fortumo covers all countries in Central Europe….but one. Guess what happened then? You guessed right – we added this market, too.

Let me introduce you to Hungary – the newest country in the Fortumo family.

When Nobel Prize winner Enrico Fermi was asked if he believed in extraterrestrials, he simply replied:

“They are among us, but they call themselves Hungarians.”

Fermi was most probably right. This country in the heart of Europe has unique culture that is being formed for thousands of years. Hungary is the place where you can see 2000 year old Roman ruins and 400 year old Turkish monuments side by side. It is there where you can see the largest fresh water lake in Europe – lake Balaton. And if you believe that beauty comes with the age – then visit one of the world’s most beautiful cities: Budapest, the “Pearl of the Danube”. Unfortunately, Fortumo cannot get you to a trip there, but we can help you earn much more by running your services in Hungary.

Hungary pride itself with mobile penetration of over 116% and about 10 million people population. Since its accession to the EU in 2004, it gets nearly one third of all foreign direct investment flowing into Central Europe (more than US$185 billion since 1989). As in the latest years the recession has decreased these benefits, the market has opened for new entrants. Every innovative service has its place reserved there. We believe in your business model that is why we offer you the tools to get there on time.

Do not waste more time. Start your services in Hungary now! Be mobile!

Last week in an event I promised to write about real life example of a client who is using In-App Payments for Android. Read what one of our affiliate developer Nutiteq has done with In-App payments. In addition you can download Nutiteq Offline Maps from Android Market for free and see in real life how it works and how neat out In-App Payments solution is.

Getting lost in new locations is a daily dose of adventure for the traveler, whereas mobile maps are today’s solution to get back on track without extra stretch. Nutiteq, a developer of mobile mapping applications, can help Android owners’ who get into unfamiliar places with pre-dowloadable offline maps. What’s even better, users can purchase additional maps without any effort, as the system sends SMS automatically. It’s a solutions that leaves you without extra surprises in new locations and on your bill. Nutiteq wants to share their experience and give ideas to other application providers of how they can generate additional direct revenue from their popular applications and let them know about SMS-based in-application billing options. „So their applications will be better and better, instead of dying out,“ said Jaak Laineste from Nutiteq.

What is your service Offline Maps for Android about?

Offline Maps for Android is a mapping application for Android mobiles with one special feature: you can pre-download the maps to the device, so you do not need to use the data connection to download them over mobile network. Some other special features are also in the roadmap and will come with updates. Nutiteq is also planning to cover other phone platforms (e.g. Nokia and SonyEricsson phones).

Whom is it for?

This service is especially useful when you are travelling to other countries, where data roaming fees can be very expensive. Typical data roaming fee in Europe is about 5 EUR/MB, and it is not big art to create couple of megabytes data traffic when you are lost in a strange city.

Where did the idea of offering and starting a service like that come from?

It came from my own own needs: when I am travelling to other countries then I almost always turn off data roaming to avoid big surprises on phone bill later. Sometimes I need maps to find my location and directions, and built-in maps in mobile want to download all maps on-line. So, the solution was to create an application which provides you with maps without mobile data connection.

How is Fortumo involved to your service?

Nutiteq Offline Maps is using Fortumo In-App Payments for Android : users can purchase additional content (map packages). What I really like about the In-App Payments service is that users do not have to send any SMS themself – everything is done automatically, they only have to push OK.  This seamless payment experience has so far rocketed my payment conversions.

Why did you decide to use In-App Mobile Payments?

As a developer and service provider, I needed to have some kind of monetization to cover costs of service creation and maintenance. Google enables theoretically to have paid app in Android Store, but it has two issues. The first is that Google does not support in-application payments for Android applications, and for this application, where most of added value comes by downloading additional map packages, In-App mobile payments is the most logical choice. The other issue is that Google supports only very few countries where developers can publish paid apps, and my country was not among them, so I just cannot publish any paid app in the Android Market. In-App Mobile Payments was kind of natural choice for me. Mobile Payments can be a bit more expensive than typical mobile app store billing infrastructure, but in many cases the default billing is not sufficient or just not available for you – in our case we have both issues.

What has In-App Mobile Payments additionally given you?

It provides some revenue, of course, and also we can now see how in-application payment system works in practise. This marketing knowledge is also valuable asset. Also we hope to get some traction, as in-application mobile payment solutions are quite new thing and there are very small number of applications using it. I suspect that many application providers just have to provide their apps for free, as Google does not provide suitable solution for them, and they are not aware of the in-app mobile payments options. Maybe I could help them to give one idea how they can generate some additional direct revenue from their popular applications, so the applications will be better and better, instead of dying out.

Have you seen Bollywood films? Me neither, but we have put together a really short video that shows how easy and fast it is to start monetizing with Fortumo In-App for Android.

We’ve been working hard on this and now it’s ready: our in-app payments for Android.

As many of you know, in-app purchases are useful for developers who want to earn more money. 1-click mobile payments are incredibly easy to use and convert many times better than credit cards.

As some of you have noticed, there have been a couple of other announcements over the past weeks. How is Fortumo’s solution for in-app billing different from everyone else’s?

First, we are much easier to integrate. As with any other Fortumo serivice, you can configure it online in 5 minutes, download and integrate the Android billing library and go live! Some developers we have worked with say that the whole process does not take more than 15 minutes!

Second, ours is the only global in-app payment solution with instant activation. In most of our almost 40 countries, you are live instantly. In some countries, Fortumo reviews your service and activates it within 24 hours. In any case, we can provide you time-to-market speeds that none of our competitors will match.

And third, we are open to all developers, regardless of size and location. We do not ask for application forms nor grant limited private access to selected developers only. This makes us easily the most accessible mobile payments provider, suitable also for smaller and medium-sized app developers.

Check out Fortumo In-App Payments for Android

Give it a try and tell us what you think!

Apple Apps Store has cultivated consumers’ in-app purchase habits. Yet being a single all-in system, Apple’s billing system allows mainly card payments which excluded the unbanked/underbanked. There are other payment options that enable different user bases. The good thing is, having built up consumers’ spending habits, Apple App Store helps make in-app/in-game purchases a norm among mobile and online players. By April 2010, there were 185,000+ apps available in App Store, and over 4 billion downloads. Players are used to in-app/in-game purchases, whether it’s in App Store, java games or social networks. Whichever payment channels are adopted by the providers, players choose the method that conveniences their fun-having.

Right payment method in the right marketplace

Contactless payments have penetrated into our consumer environment, if you haven’t noticed. NFC, WAP, credit cards and mobile payments are all part of this system. These payment methods have different scopes for different marketplaces. NFC has been widely adopted in mass transit in Asian countries like Japan and Taiwan. WAP is popular for music and ringtone downloads, among others. And mobile payment, by making the purchase charged in one’s phone bill, has become the most preferable payment channel for games, apps and webs.

Partnerships to mainstream the mobile trend

This phenomenon is reflected on the growing partnerships between mobile payment providers and SNS, gaming sites and mobile webs. Providers integrate this payment channel because of the multiplying revenues brought by the high payment conversion rate. Whereas players opt for paying by mobile due to its high accessibility, ease of use, full control and anonymity. The increasing partnerships among providers and the adoption rate of the players have consolidated the status of mobile payment in e-/m-Commerce.

Not just alternatives but the prime

According to the Mobile Banker from the American Banker, “as much as 20% of all credit/debit transactions could be mobile or an alternative by the year 2012.” Mobile payment has sprouted in the e-/m-Commerce industry. With the development of mobile handsets and smartphones, software developers are expanding their apps from PCs to mobile phones. They’re searching better ways to monetize apps without extra costs, and mobile payment provides this seamless possibility. If you’re playing games or apps with your mobile phone, what can be better to pay by the handset itself? If you’re building a fortress in your virtual kingdom and wishing to upgrade to the next level, what would be faster than buying through the click-and-done mobile payment?

Without additional costs, mobile payment allows providers to generate higher revenues, and grants players with real-time and full control of transaction. It has evolved to a mature payment technology, for providers and consumers alike.

Having all the benefits, FortuMoPay is right here for you to make the best out of it.

As mobile penetration increases over time, more and more people are accustomed to this form of communication – not just by phone but also via SMS. In addition to instant interaction, consumers use SMS for other purposes. It does more than text messaging. SMS is one technology with five dimensions. Let’s take a look at what SMS is capable of.

SMS as Communication – Say it!

SMS has its own charisma in terms of communication — it is expressive, rich in emotions, recordable, and sometimes, avoiding embarrassment. This is the absolute mainstream that dominates the SMS markets. Communication, being the basic form of SMS, has extended to other forms such as Chat-box. Placing an SMS-Chatbox on your webpage gives you an alternative to interact with your friends and visitors. It could serve as personal interaction, or as marketing and public relations – posting ads and announcements via SMS.

SMS as Entertainment – Enjoy it!

In addition to customised jokes and mind twisters, another common type of SMS-Entertainment is song requests. By sending an SMS to request a song, the consumer conveys his/her emotions with the audio aid. A song speaks more than a thousand words, doesn’t it? For those who read Chinese, here’s a model for you. A TV programme from Yunnan, China, which used our SMS service for song request.

SMS as Information – Spread it!

The fact that we like to be well informed is without doubt. SMS, sending and receiving via mobile handsets, is the medium that synchronizes us with the information desired. The common types of SMS-Information are horoscopes, news updates and daily quotes. For regional preferences, sports tips are popular in the Balkans whereas stock exchange info is in great demand in China.

SMS as Campaign – Do it and be part of it!

SMS-Campaign is one of the common practices of short message applications. It is mainly the cooperation with service providers and/or interactive media. Consumers send an SMS to participate in the campaign, be it trivia, text-and-win, voting or registering at an event. This kind of campaign often involves short-term and impulsive consumer behaviour. Whether it’s large-scale campaigns like voting for American Idol, or small ones like local TV show’s talent-search, they all cultivate a big revenue streams from the impulsive consumer expenditure.

SMS as Payment – Pay it and play it!

Payment tools are like transportation – transferring the monetary values from the payers to the payees. SMS as payment is the most efficient way of transferring money to content/service providers and selling virtual credits. The special features with SMS – anonymity, security, spontaneity and popularity – encourage consumer spending and thus raise the revenue streams. It lives up to the consumer demands for purchasing virtual credits in real-time without delay. From provider’s perspective, the convenient buying process of SMS/Mobile-payment converts much greater purchases, and thus generates higher revenues.

The multi-dimensions of SMS allow text message to achieve other functions such as mobile payment. The alternatives do not just stop here – a lot have already been developed, for example mobile parking, mobile ticketing, and mobile banking solution. And more are yet to come.

Whichever dimensions you are interested in, Fortumo provides the best solutions with our various service types and multiple country choices. With mobile payment alone, Fortumo has upgraded from Premium SMS-Connectivity to the all-in-one international payment solution FortuMoPay.

Start to ride on the mobile wave from here.



Summer is coming and Fortumo decided to take you on a trip to an exotic destination. Please, be most welcome in Greece – the newest member of the Fortumo Family!

The Hellenic Republic, or as most of us know it as Greece, is the heart of one of the eldest civilizations – the Ancient Greek civilization. Its reach was tremendous – from the southern parts of Italy to the west  to the coastal lines of Turkey and Black sea to the east. From the Balkan Peninsula to the northern parts of Africa. Moreover, the Greeks’ influence over the world as we know it today is even more impressive. Greece is the motherland of philosophers like Plato and his student Aristotle; mathematicians like Pythagoras, Thales and Euclid and even the world-famous inventor and astronomer Archimedes (Eureka!). Additionally, this country on the shores of the Mediterranean sea  is the place where you can go back in the ages and visit the famous Acropolis of Athens. It is believed to be built at least at the 7th century BC. Originally it was the most important Acropolis in whole Greece while today it is one of the most attractive tourists destinations. After this really brief history note, you can understand why the Greeks pride themselves on their origin.

Once playground of Zeus and the Gods of Olympus (the highest mountain in Greece), today Greece is a modern country with well developed IT sector and flourishing tourism. With total area of about 51,000 square miles and over 11 million population, Greece is the southernmost sea border of the European Union. The mobile penetration there is the highest through whole Europe – 180% (as of September 2009) and the internet penetration rate is 46%. Purely impressive! Add the fact that Greece ranked 26th in 2009 in the world by purchasing power parity GDP (according to the International Monetary Fund) and you will pretty much understand why Greece is your services’ next destination.

Just click here and we will show you how to go there!