游戏邦注：本文作者为Tim Green，文章主要讨论手机付费公司Tanla推新型手机应用计费解决方案TPAY。

手机支付管理投资公司Tanla的Gautam Sabharwal日前在采访中谈到了开发商应该如何定价以及使用TPAY销售公司。

Gautam Sabharwal

Android Market目前已超过20万款免费和付费应用，这让该应用商店的竞争愈加激烈，曝光程度开始不尽如人意。

开发商自我突破，吸引大众关注的方式之一是：自己在目标网站发行应用。也就是说他们需要自己宣传应用，提高应用访问流量。

但随着开放式手机平台越来越普及（游戏邦注：如Android和Symbian），具有冒险精神的内容开发商奉行这一策略从技术和商业角度考虑都是切实可行。

支付服务专业公司Tanla正是秉承这个理念，于今年3月份推出了TPay。这个计费解决方案使得开发商能够在自己的应用中融入灵活付费渠道，进而充分挖掘零售业务的潜力。

Tanla全球业务拓展主管Gautam Sabharwal日前于采访中深入讲述了相关问题。以下是游戏邦编译的相关内容。

迄今有多少开发商是TPAY注册用户？

这个程序目前的注册用户大约为60位。我们并没有进行广泛推广，所以这个成绩还是相当不错的（游戏邦注：这些用户大多是Android和Java游戏开发商）。

这个系统是如何运作的？

用户无需付费，直接注册网站就可以了。系统采用两种整合方式，即SDK或者包装器。SDK配合本土平台效果最好，包装技术能够帮助开发商上传应用，然后下载包装版本。目前游戏平台纷繁复杂，所以跳过整合过程很重要。这项技术使得开发商能够快速转换不同文件版本。正是因为这项技术，我们得以成功收购OpenBit。

有关付费选择方面？

我们的运营商计费服务遍布100个平台，30个国家，同时还有信用卡付费方式可供选择。唯一不在运营商计费服务覆盖范围内的大国是美国，但当地用户将很快能够享受到这项服务。开发商可以指定货币、付款金额、商业模式和免费体验时间等。

该技术的灵活性带给开发商什么好处？

如果开发商能够将其应用至适合商业模式，那么应用转换率将会高很多。就以旅行导航应用为例，你或许希望通过购买某款应用，顺利完成德国之旅。如果你打算去1个礼拜，你可能会对能够帮你支付一周房屋租金的应用感兴趣。

运营商计费系统的重要性程度？

这个付款方式很重要，是80%交易的首选付款方式。但这里指的不是付款金额。显然如果用户想支付90欧元的年费，他们就会选择信用卡付款方式。

TPAY支持哪些平台？

除了WP7和iOS之外，各大平台都在TPAY的服务范围之内。但由于我们借助Windows系统实现操作，因未来打算进军使用HTML5的iPhone网页应用领域。

tanla-nokia

用户可以从何处购买TPAY应用？

TPAY并没有入驻Android Market、Ovi之类的OEM官方应用商店。但除此之外的商店（游戏邦注：如GetJar和手机预先加载商店）均支持采用这项技术的应用。众所周知，曝光度是应用商店的关键所在，所以拥有营销预算的开发公司均瞄准这些地方，于此上传自己的可下载应用。这也是营收的真正来源之处。我们本身已和运营商、手机设备制造商建立了合作关系，所以我们未来有望同TPAY开发商在上述环节建立起合作关系。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

INTERVIEW: Tanla on turning app developers into app retailers

by Tim Green

Gautam Sabharwal of Monetising Mobile sponsor Tanla explains how developers can set their own prices and sell their own apps using TPAY.

In the week in which Google revealed 200,000 free and paid apps in the Android Market store, it seems there’s more noise than ever in the app space. Discoverability is getting worse.

One way for developers to break through and make their voice heard is by hosting apps themselves from their own destinations. It’s not straightforward, of course. They need to market these apps in order to attract traffic to the sites.

But with the many open mobile platforms now available – Android, Symbian – it’s technically and commercial feasible for the more adventurous content makers to pursue such a strategy.

It’s with this is mind that billing specialist Tanla launched TPay in March. This solution lets developers integrate flexible payment options into their apps so they can explore retailing themselves.

We asked Gautam Sabharwal, director of global business development at Tanla, to explain more…

How many developers have signed up for TPAY to date?

We have around 60 on the programme now. That’s pretty good, considering we haven’t done much marketing. They’re mostly games developers on Android and Java.

How does the system work?

There are no fees, and you just register on the site. It works with two kinds of integration, either an SDK or a wrapper. The SDK works best with native platforms and the wrapping tech just lets you upload your app and then download the wrapped version. Ease of integration is very important because of all the different platforms out there. Our tech lets developers convert multiple file variants in seconds. It’s all because of the tech that we acquired when we bought OpenBit.

And the billing options?

There’s operator billing with around 100 networks on 30 countries and credit card billing. The only major territory missing on operator billing is the US, but it’s imminent. The developer can specify the currency, charging amount, business model, free play period and so on.

What are the advantages of this kind of flexibility?

The conversion rates for apps are much higher when you can adjust it to the right business model. Take navigation for example. You might want to buy an app to travel to Germany, say. If you’re going for a week, you’d probably be more interested in an app that lets you pay a fee for a week’s rental.

And how important is the operator billing part?

Very. It’s 80 per cent of the transactions. But not the value. Clearly when people spend, say, £90 on an annual licence, they use a credit card.

Which platforms does TPAY support?

All the major platforms except WinPho 7 and iOS, for obvious reasons. But we’re working on Windows, and we also have plans for iPhone web apps using HTML5.

Where can TPAY apps be sold?

Well, we can’t offer TPay on the official OEM app stores like Android Market and Ovi. But anything outside of them – like GetJar or a handset pre-load – can support apps made with the solution. As we all know discoverability is a major issue on app stores, so developers with marketing dollars are all looking at these distribution, as well as hosting their own downloads. This is where we see the real interest coming from. Also, we have our own relationships with operators and handset makers, so there is the potential for TPAY developers to work with us there.（Source：mobile-ent）