Member News

Oxygen8, global provider of integrated mobile solutions, is expanding its product and operations departments with the appointment of a new Chief Technology Officer and Head of Product Development. The appointments have been made to support the business as it ramps up its integrated mobile solutions offering to help clients improve interactions with their customers using intelligent communications.

As part of a company-wide initiative to further strengthen its market position, Shay Hamilton joins Oxygen8 as Chief Technology Officer, bringing over 20 years of industry experience with him, working for Telefonica, O2 and LogicaCMG. Shay’s main focus will be to drive innovation and ensure the company is proactive in delivering a portfolio of solutions and products that allow Oxygen8 and its clients to enter new markets.

Maria Grant joins Oxygen8 as Head of Product Development. With more than 12 years of experience of product management in telecommunications, Maria has managed mobile, inbound and wholesale voice product portfolios at TeliaSonera International Carrier and later TalkTalk Business. Maria will drive Oxygen8’s product strategy to ensure the strategic goal of delivering innovative, reliable and cost effective communication, payment and billing solutions utilising voice, mobile and other media is realised.

Shane Leahy, CEO of the Oxygen8 Group commented: “Oxygen8 is delighted to welcome Shay and Maria, both will be a significant asset in helping to move us to the next stage of growth, complementing the considerable progress we have made with our Brainstorm brand. We are excited to be working together to seize new opportunities and to lay the foundations for the future growth of Oxygen8.”

Telescope, the market leader in audience participation, consumer engagement, and mobile technology for live television, today announces the launch of their UK business and appointment of Andrew Jackson as VP of Business Development. A seasoned media-industry executive with a rich history of tenure at companies such as BBC Worldwide, Endemol, and MIG ( now Velti ), Jackson will spearhead Telescope’s UK growth with the opening of the company’s London branch.

Building from recent successes with the delivery of cutting edge social campaigns for Channel 4 and Channel 5 over the past year, Telescope will now establish a permanent presence and offer their technology and full suite of engagement and social products to UK clients. Jackson will strengthen the company’s position across the European market by applying his extensive knowledge and experience working at the intersection of technology and television.

“Having experienced the immense impact of social interactivity around TV and growing importance to the broadcast ecosystem here in the US, we feel we are uniquely positioned to bring our capability and expertise to the UK market,” said Jason George, CEO of Telescope. “As advertiser interest and multi-screen activity grows, there will be an explosion of these type of engagements in the UK and we’re delighted to have Andrew on board to help broadcasters, production companies and brands maximize value from this exciting opportunity.”

The addition of Jackson comes at a key juncture for the company, as it looks to expand upon its role as the television industry’s interaction agency of choice, having already proven its participation expertise over the last decade with storied franchises such as “American Idol,” “The Voice,” and “The Biggest Loser.” With an industry leading multichannel technology platform and through partnerships with companies like Twitter and Facebook, Telescope now powers consumer engagement solutions and companion play along mechanics for world’s largest media brands and marquee sports programming partners NASCAR and the National Basketball Association, among others.

“I’m proud to join the all-star team at Telescope and ready to dive head-first into our collective goals for the U.K. market,” said Andrew Jackson, VP, Business Development of Telescope UK. “I look forward to arming our new partners with the most powerful audience-engagement technology in the industry, and enabling them to more deeply connect with their viewers and consumers.”

An industry veteran with over 12 years of experience within interactive television and audience engagement in the United Kingdom, Jackson hails most recently from the BBC, where he served as an independent consultant working in the Future Media division at ITACU. Prior to the BBC, he worked at MIG ( now Velti ) as Head of Client Services, spearheading the launch of mobile SMS services for ITV, Channel 5 and BBC, in addition to managing the first major text-to-donate campaign for Comic Relief while delivering mobile services for brands, media campaigns and mobile networks alike.

Before MIG, Jackson served as Head of Telephony at Endemol UK, where he oversaw interactive services for hit series “Deal or No Deal,” “Goldenballs,” and “Big Brother.” Andrew first cut his teeth within the television industry at BBC Worldwide, where he worked on TV shows including Strictly Come Dancing, Sport Personality of the Year and Fame Academy.

On June 26th AIME’s inaugural Payforit Summit ( payforitsummit.com ) will take place in central London to help UK businesses learn more about the growing mobile billing opportunity for digital services. The Summit will explain how Payforit can help UK businesses increase revenues and tap into a new consumer audience and will provide hints, tips, experts and case studies on Payforit.

With support from all the UK’s mobile network operators O2, EE, Three and Vodafone the event, held at 10-11 Carlton House Terrace, just round the corner from Charing Cross train station, will provide an introduction into mobile billing for any business that is keen to target the UK’s growing smartphone and mobile-savvy audience.

“The number of consumers with a mobile phone on them at any time is almost as high as the number with cash on them at any time. While for many online and mobile purchases mobile billing is becoming far more convenient than using cards,” said Toby Padgham, AIME Director. “The Payforit Summit will provide business growth opportunities for merchants looking to monetise their digital services using the online payment mechanism Payforit.”

Payforit, the service that allows consumers to pay for digital goods and services directly from their mobile phone and is fully backed by all the UK mobile operators, is growing very quickly. Recent figures from AIME show Payforit revenues grew by 25% in 2012.

Jay Saw, Business Development Director at Nomad Digital ( www.nomadrail.co.uk ), the global leader for WiFi on trains, commented, “We’ve been using Payforit for over 18 months as one of the payment options for rail passengers wishing to access our WiFi service. We found that many customers don’t have or don’t always want to use credit cards for this type of small, infrequent transaction, so Payforit provides a convenient alternative. Over the last 18 months we’ve seen the number of Payforit transactions continually grow indicating that it is growing in its appeal as a method of payment.”

“This event offers the perfect opportunity for businesses from sectors as diverse as publishing or mobile gaming to understand how mobile billing and Payforit specifically can help them grow and create increased revenue,” continued Padgham.

For the increasing number of merchants that are already using Payforit, the Summit will offer more details about the future developments of the service, as well as sessions on how to use Payforit to increase the number of customers and transactions for the merchant.

Following the Summit itself there will be networking drinks and a time for the attendees to mix and chat with fellow professionals and the mobile operators.

The Oxygen8 Group has announced that it will be working with Edinburgh Airport, one of the busiest airports in the UK, to support staff with their inbound voice communications.

Oxygen8 will be implementing its leading call handling solution, Direct Control Voice, which will allow the airport to manage and measure its call activity, which averages half a million minutes a year. Edinburgh Airport wanted to improve response times and eliminate the inflexible nature of its Interactive Voice Response ( IVR ) system. Introducing Direct Control Voice provides the airport with a more effective and timely way to make changes to its own IVR and call handling services.

Edinburgh Airport was particularly impressed with the solution’s capacity to allow it to make immediate changes to call routing and call flow management. This capability provides the airport with more control when communicating airport notifications, flight cancellations and poor weather alerts via IVR. In the instance of website downtime the solution will provide an effective continual flow of communication with customers, allowing the airport to respond to changes quickly.

James Harrison, UK Country Manager of Oxygen8 Group commented: “We are delighted to be working with Edinburgh Airport as Direct Control Voice will offer massive value to them during times of disruption. By providing scope, flexibility, detailed reporting and anywhere, anytime accessibility to make changes to updates and recordings, the airport will have peace of mind that it will be able to provide a consistent flow of communication at all times.”

Mobile aggregator and AIME sponsor member txtNation have partnered with Europe’s largest supplier of NFC tags and products, RapidNFC, to become the first to offer direct operator billing via NFC technology.

Using NFC tags, compatible mobile phones can scan the tag, launching a tailored payment interface. The user simply confirms payment and is billed. Users browsing via WiFi, rather than their mobile data plan, are prompted to enter their mobile number to continue payment.

The NFC tags are tiny microchips which RapidNFC can incorporate into a wide selection of products from stickers, smart posters and wristbands to promotional items such as pens, key fobs, bar mats and various other merchandise.

Whilst other NFC methods exist, txtNation have introduced a solution without any complicated signup process. Without additional linking of a phone to a bank account,card payment or by entering a username or password, users can be billed with txtNation’s solution with a quick NFC tap and a one-click confirmation on a mobile Web page.

Through their 3G or 4G connections, a user is charged securely and quickly to their monthly mobile contract or pay-as-you-go balance.
The solution works in any country where carriers support MSISDN pass-through, so the user can enjoy “one-click billing”. To kickstart this new solution, txtNation have been trialling it with Payforit, the UK’s latest and most prominent direct carrier billing scheme.

Popular already for charity donations, the solution has potential for event ticketing and even tangible goods. It could be used through a point-of-sale terminal, or the merchant’s PC, laptop, tablet or mobile phone.
txtNation Director and co-founder Jon Rowsell said ‘it’s great to be first to market with this. It’s something we’ve been conceptualizing for a while and to be able to finally offer NFC, combined with carrier billing, for those early end user and merchant adopters, means that anyone with an NFC-enabled phone in the UK can use this. More and more phones are coming with NFC enabled, and clients are wanting to take advantage of this impressive technology.’

He adds ‘It is expected that NFC will become a mass market payment system, with the likes of weve.com or or Visa’s payWave app coming on stream. txtNation’s solution, however, is available today without the need for further consolidation in the market or increased cooperation between operators. txtNation has pioneered mobile billing and messaging over the past 10 years and is proud to be at the forefront of what promises to be a popular payment method.’

Direct Carrier Billing through a user’s mobile network, unlike questionable bank-linked NFC, means there is an SMS confirmation for every transaction made, boosting consumer confidence and giving true billing transparency.

Consumers and businesses alike want an easy-to-use system that requires no user registration, providing friction-free, one-touch billing. txtNation and RapidNFC can provide this today, so clients can instantly deploy and get started in an exciting new sector.

“We’ve been approached by a number of clients looking for a quick and simple way of making NFC payments” says Phil Coote, CEO of RapidNFC, “and to date we haven’t been able to recommend anything as there has been nothing in the market worth shouting about. When txtNation approached us with this concept we immediately knew this was going to be a ground breaking product, and set to work on a prototype. The result is fantastic, nothing like we have seen before and so easy for clients to deploy to accept payments from not only all those with NFC on their handsets, but anyone with a mobile internet browser.”

txtNation are offering interested businesses the chance to try the service for free, by providing an NFC payment sticker to their door, by emailing Kelli Smith, Corporate Affairs; k.smith@txtnation.com with your company name, postal address and where you would like to deploy NFC billing, and txtNation will deliver you an NFC tag pre-encoded with their billing solution.