LICENSING & PURCHASING
   

LICENSING 

Licensing is a core service that maintains a system of user accounts together with the associated license entitlements and terms for applications, application features and/or virtual goods. Crucially, the Service enforces the state of licenses on mobile platforms (and all other client and server platforms) with a high level of security. It also manages license entitlements and transfers across multiple devices and users.
 
A software developer, for instance, may use our Licensing Service when distributing an application through a mobile operator, while using the mobile operators' purchasing and subscription management system for provisioning and billing. The software developer may use our Service to activate and de-activate the application or premium feature (driven by the purchasing or subscription management system), and to manage license transfers to other devices and/or users.
 

PURCHASING 

Purchasing maximizes revenue by leveraging user behaviour to provide ways for users to purchase applications, application features or virtual goods, such as 

  • Allowing users the right to use an entire application, or any feature or virtual good within the application, for a limited time period or for a number of uses, with or without advertising content, before initiating a purchasing process;
  • Allowing users to purchase exactly what they need, with the ability to upgrade to additional features, uses or content, as and when needed. Freemium models and upgrades are supported;
  • Lowering barriers to entry for users (while maximizing life-cycle revenue) by providing higher value applications, features or content through lower regular payments in a subscription model. Fixed period and usage-based models are also supported;
  • Providing payment methods that make sense to users within a specific sales channel and geography;
  • Proposing purchases to users at the appropriate time and in the right context, based on the activities of users within the application, and the anticipated needs of users (dynamically changing over time);
  • Providing frictionless purchasing processes to users within a mobile application (in-app purchasing), making it easy for users to buy without leaving the application; and returning them to the exact point within the application so that they can continue its use seamlessly;
  • Supporting the same intelligent purchasing processes for users at any endpoint for cloud-based applications, or applications extending beyond the mobile device;
  • Enabling all sales channels such as OEM, Mobile Operator, Retail, App Store and Direct Sales, and optimizing purchasing processes for each sales channel.
Users are willing to work and pay within the highly conducive Lotaris Platform licensing user environment, with in-context, "in-band" interactions. There are frequent "calls to action" to buy or upgrade, which facilitates the monetization of applications.

Software developers and/or their distributors define business models and parameters dynamically in the Back Office, providing more flexibility and faster time to market. Examples of business cases that can be implemented on the Lotaris Platform are listed below.  

Business Case 1: OEM Pre-Installed
Application pre-installed on a smartphone model with a single "utility" feature enabled
Users are prompted to upgrade their license when trying to access a premium feature
Users pay via credit card on an annual subscription cycle,
In-app notification of renewal annually – User notified of billing event and can change default credit card payment information
 
Business Case 2: Mobile Operator WAP Portal
Application download of correct version using Automatic Device Detection for User's target smartphone
Application has a single "utility" feature enabled
Users are prompted to upgrade their license when trying to access a premium feature
Users pay via carrier billing on a monthly subscription cycle
The Lotaris Platform provides Automatic Mobile Number validation
Automatic monthly renewal and carrier billing payment with in-app notification
 
Business Case 3: Application Store
Application download to smartphone using the Storefront mechanism of the Application Store
Application has a single "utility" feature enabled
Users are prompted to upgrade their license when trying to access a premium feature
Users pay through the Application Store User account on a monthly subscription cycle
The Lotaris Platform verifies the User with the Application Store User account system
In-app notification of renewal monthly – User confirms renewal and is charged on User account