The prepaid audience is a value-driven segment that is hesitant to own or use credit cards and, before now, there was no easy solution to get premium game content. In addition, data from a recent PlayPhone survey of more than 1000 U.S. adults showed that 72 percent of respondents are ‘uncomfortable’ entering credit card information directly into an app.

To make the purchase experience as frictionless as possible for prepaid customers, Playphone is bundling their popular network currency, Playcredits, with monthly mobile plans at a reduced price. Subscribers can use Playcredits to buy premium games and in-app products.

PlayPhone has proven its solution over the past year with highly successful implementations in Brazil (Claro) and Singapore (SingTel). For instance, during the World Cup, Claro launched two highly successful game titles.

The ability for operators to further leverage "credits" for incentives, loyalty programs, and toll-free data is exciting. Pipeline will be covering the implications of virtual currencies, such as Playcredits, in upcoming issues.

Innovations in IoT

The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to re-shape the world in which we live, but the technology is still in its infancy. The future might arrive a little sooner, thanks to the recently formed Open Interconnect Consortium. The group was founded by industry leaders including Dell, Intel, Broadcom, and Samsung, and is focused on improving interoperability and defining the connectivity requirements.

"Interoperability will be a critical enabler as the IoT ecosystem continues to evolve," said Rahul Patel, Broadcom, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Wireless Connectivity. "Through our collaboration with other industry leaders in establishing an open IoT platform encompassing multiple connectivity technologies, we are removing the barriers to entry and opening up the opportunity for innovation to a broad range of inspired entrepreneurs."

One of the challenges in developing IoT solutions is that use cases call for devices characterized by very low power consumption, size, and cost. Also, connectivity is not standardized, so devices could become obsolete if they aren’t configurable to support multiple access technologies.

Imagination Technologies, a company that has been developing digital radio processing technology for nearly 15 years, has updated its Ensigma radio processing units (RPUs) with a new architecture that is purpose-built to address the challenges of IoT and M2M.

“Many devices claiming to address IoT today are in fact re-purposed from other markets such as mobile or embedded, but don’t fully address the extreme low power and cost requirements that this market will demand," explains Tony King-Smith, EVP marketing, Imagination. The company says it’s targeting “markets as diverse as eHealth, energy, agriculture, security and many other areas.”  

Since the IoT market is still deciding which access technologies will predominate in each market segment, Ensigma Whisper RPUs are configurable to many different connectivity standards (Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE, Wi-Fi), as well as emerging standards.

Richard Edgar, director of communications technology marketing, told Pipeline that, with the Whisper architecture, Imagination has "produced an IP solution that is scalable, designed for the IoT market, and offers companies who are developing IoT solutions a communications solution that will integrate and fit correctly into their products."

By reducing die size and power consumption, Imagination says the new architecture will actually reduce the cost of a system on a chip (SoC). Further, Edgar told Pipeline, "Power consumption will be as good or better than anything else on the market."

Chakra Parvathaneni, senior director of business development, Ensigma, said the Ensigma Whisper RPUs with Bluetooth and Bluetooth LE connectivity will be available this summer, and other forms of connectivity will be available by the end of the year.