Rovio, the makers of Angry Birds, is developing its own in-game, carrier billing payment system. Bad Piggy Bank will launch next year on Elisa, a Finnish carrier. The new system will allow users to upgrade to an ad-free version of Angry Birds as well as make in-game purchases, like the Mighty Eagle.
Rovio CEO Peter Vesterbacka at a press conference said they would offer the system to other developers and take a share of the revenue. Vesterbacka went on to say he hopes it will provide consumers, especially in areas with less credit card penetration, an option for buying in-app content without having to register. Rovio is creating this in house payment system out of frustration with Android's payment system, which prompted Rovio to offer Angry Birds with ads for free on Android.
With Rovio’s clout, it might be able to get another option on the table for consumers and developers. It would, however, put them in competition with application markets like Apple’s App Store, which takes a cut of in-app purchases, as well third-party payment services like PayPal, Boku and Zong, which are also trying to enable in-app payments. [GigaOM]
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