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Angry Birds developers to launch 'Bad Piggy Bank' mobile payment system

Angry BirdsAfter millions of downloads of their popular game Angry Birds and a plan to take over the gaming world, Rovio is looking to get a little more from users; they now want to implement a mobile payment system inside the game itself. In an effort to grab a few more bucks from impulsive buyers/gamers they are launching Bad Piggy Bank, which with just a touch of a button will let customers make in-app game purchases without a credit card -- the price of anything they buy will just be added to their monthly cell phone bill.

Rovio is based in Helsinki, Finland and is initially putting the payment system in place on Android with Elisa, the country's biggest telecom provider, but expects to roll the service out worldwide sometime in 2011. While Apple allows users to upgrade 'in-app' from free to paid versions and the buying and unlocking of special features, I do question if they would ever allow something like Bad Piggy Bank to purchase other Rovio games without a link going back to the App Store.

However, I can say that if it were in place I would probably have bought every version of Angry Birds by now, since I cannot seem to stop playing it.

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After millions of downloads of their popular game Angry Birds and a plan to take over the gaming world, Rovio is looking to get a little...
 

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DavidG

Since this is explicitly against the SDK terms, the immediate answer is that Apple would not allow this. They'd first have to change these terms, which would then apply to everybody. One workaround could be to have users' assets store in an online account, with points purchased only on the web. The app would merely be syncing up with these account assets. Then, from the app's point of view, it would be no different than exchanging points for goods, a la Crazy Dave's station wagon in Plants vs. Zombies.

December 10 2010 at 6:27 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to DavidG's comment
badweasel

I agree.

I also don't see the need or the advantage on iOS devices of having another payment system or method. I suppose when you're raking it in as much as they are you might start to be annoyed by the 70/30 split (read greedy), but for my app business it works just fine and I'm happy with it.

December 13 2010 at 1:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Galley

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Apple is gonna have issues with that payment system.

December 10 2010 at 5:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
emil

Can we get a non-Angry birds TUAW feed? Seriously, I have the game installed, and it's fun and all, but... be serious.

December 10 2010 at 4:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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