ImpulsePay has announced the launch of its new age verification service for online content – meaning that content owners can now sell over eighteen content safe in the knowledge that the customer is old enough to purchase it. Using their mobile phone to pay for the content, similar to SMS billing, the purchaser has their age verified by the operator and is blocked from the purchase if they are not old enough.
The system works by the content owner placing an ImpulsePay ‘Buy Now’ button on their site. When the purchaser clicks on it, they enter their mobile number, and are sent a secure PIN by SMS. The PIN gets entered online, and the operator check the user’s handset is registered to someone over 18.
ImpulsePay’s service is based on Payforit – the payment service supported by all licensed UK mobile operators. Using Payforit, ImpulsePay collects payment directly from the user’s mobile phone bill, or available credit if on PAYG, meaning anyone with a mobile phone can now buy content, make a donation or pay for a mobile application on their phone or online.
Just like SMS billing, the Payforit service works on any handset in the UK and across all networks. When accessed on mobile websites, users make a purchase in just one click, with no additional information that needs to be entered. Payforit allows simple hyperlinks to the payments page and once the transaction is complete, it returns the user to the relevant page to receive their content.
So in essence ImpulsePay reduces the complexity of offering the service (for the content owner), and then also purchasing (for the end-user) – sounds like win-win to me!