Opera Payment Exchange brings mobile payments to the 99%

San Mateo, USA and Barcelona, Spain, February 28, 2012. Opera Software today launched the Opera Payment Exchange (OPX) to provide the world’s best user experience in mobile payments. The Opera Payment Exchange will enable the global user base of Opera Mini, the world’s most popular mobile browser, with the power to carry out mobile transactions securely and simply with payment instruments they know and trust.

The Opera Payment Exchange will enable payment transactions for more than 160 million Opera Mini users by acting as a glue between content providers, publishers and mobile billing systems and digital payment gateways, while building trust with end consumers. OPX provides APIs that members of the ecosystem can use to make mobile-payment processing within the Opera Mini browser seamless, resulting in higher transaction success rates.

With OPX, every player in the mobile payments ecosystem stands to gain:
-For Opera Mini users, OPX will provide a secure and trustworthy mobile-payment experience that is ubiquitous, convenient and easy to control.
-For publishers, OPX helps maximize the potential of their existing billing connections with carriers, payment instrument providers and payment gateways, by increasing conversions through merchandising intelligence based on transactions performed on the publishers website, and through a trusted user experience.
-For operators, OPX provides a new revenue stream with standardized integration, better support and retailing insights based on carrier billing.
-For payment providers and payment gateways, OPX will overcome inconsistent user experience and fear of fraud with one-click, native support for payment instruments.

“At Opera, it is all about giving the user the best possible experience,” said Mahi de Silva, EVP for Consumer Mobile, Opera Software. “Mobile payments have so far been a privilege for users of high-end devices in developed markets. With OPX, Opera is expanding this to all devices, no matter the location, carrier or payment instrument by giving the stakeholders in the ecosystem the right technology to carry out the transactions.”

Opera is already working with several valuable partners including InMobi SmartPay, Yandex.Money and Bango to make Opera Payments Exchange a ubiquitous part of mobile payments in many regions, with coverage expanding to other parts of the globe rapidly in the coming year.

For more information, visit Opera at Mobile World Congress located at Hall 1 at Booth C44. To schedule an interview or demo of Opera’s latest offerings, contact Pål Unanue-ZahlPål Unanue-Zahl palu[at]opera.com.