C/Net reports that Sun and Microsoft aim to give wireless carriers a way to streamline and centralize billing for downloads like games or ring tones.
Most cellular operators have billing systems that are a jumble of sometimes decades-old software, the result of mergers of different phone companies, reports C/Net. “There’s a lot of hokey Band-Aid type of things so carriers can charge for voice systems, let alone the downloads they want to do,” said Michael Doherty, a telecom analyst at market research firm Ovum.
Microsoft has begun working with Portal Software to make Portal’s billing software available to any service provider that uses Microsoft’s .Net platform, not just cell phone companies. Microsoft will use Web services to bill customers, allowing software applications to communicate over the Web. That’s cheaper than installing new customized billing software and hardware.
On Thursday, Sun said it would buy Pixo, a 6-year-old billing software maker. Pixo will be a “critical link” to tie together various Sun software, such as its popular J2ME, which more than two dozens carriers now use.
Pixo’s specialty is digital rights management, which is becoming a concern as operators sell ring tones based on popular songs. In mid-2003, ringtones top the list of U.S. carriers’ wireless data service offerings and may bring in $1 billion in revenue, by 2007.
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