| On 02.04.10, In Uncategorized, by Anand |
There are lots of people — teens in particular — who don’t have bank accounts or credit cards with which to pay for online purchases. They can use prepaid cards to sign up for online services, but alternative payment provider Kwedit wants to make it far easier for them to buy digital content, virtual goods, or online games.
Kwedit is a new company trying to address the group of people who have money they want to spend on virtual goods, but lack the method to make the purchase.
A variation on the concept of buying a pre-paid card, Kwedit’s service provides the user with virtual currency by direct payment or by incurring a virtual debt. The service is going live tonight in more than 100 games including FooPets and Puzzle Pirates, typically as a new feature in some game offer walls, as well as 5,800 US stores for convenience chain 7-11
Teens can buy prepaid cards for games at the stores now. But in the middle of the night, that doesn’t really help them if they want to make a purchase in an online game so they can join with their friends, said Danny Shader, chief executive of Kwedit and a longtime veteran of the payment industry.
Virtual goods are expected to generate $1.6 billion in revenues in the U.S. this year, according to Inside Network. But teens can be left out because 95 percent of them pay for goods with cash.
Kwedit is one of many companies targeting the “unbanked,” or those without credit cards and bank accounts. In the U.S., the unbanked add up to 25 percent of American households, or tens of millions of people who primarily use cash for transactions. Others serving them include Rixty, which lets kids trade in their coins at Coinstar booths in stores so they can get coupons to play games.
News and image from : venturebeat
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