When flash became an integral part of the computing experience. The Internet began to shift from a data/information spectrum to also offer on-demand entertainment. The entertainment ranging from online games to the rapidly growing social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, are setting the stage for today's developers.
The majority of the online venues that offer games or entertainment to the world at large have been trending towards the use of flash based products. Historically for the smaller designers or developers, this has created a stumbling block in the terms of monetizing their products efficiently and competing in the perspective market. Now as technology advances, so do the solutions for many vendors who have had the problems of making their development pay off for them. This advancement has made it possible for smaller companies to start selling software online globally.
The latest billing models being introduced to the online gaming world are flash based payment alternatives. These flash payment alternatives can be easily integrated in any game, social media, video streaming or software, allowing the end users to quickly and conveniently pay for their requested service without the need of being redirected to the processors payment page. All the customer needs to do is enter his credit card details in the integrated payment fields and continue using his service of choice.
Although the flash billing models were designed to minimize the steps and distraction to the end-user, the security standards are still intact and meet all of the requirements set by and compliant with the international PCI Data Security Standard of Visa and MasterCard thus insuring security for the end-users. That makes these payment alternatives exceptionally attractive for any vendor that wishes to optimize his conversion rate and benefit from elevated customer retention.
Together with the compatibility with all of the security features and payment options, the flash payment billing methods work perfectly with micropayments and recurring billing models. This creates the perfect solution for the online social networks and the gaming portals worldwide. With these newer payment alternatives developers and distributors can take advantage of the simple integration and include these billing models with their product. This practice is currently being used by only a few of the online service providers that have taken the initiative to develop billing models for this sector of the market.
The methodology behind the flash payment billing model is simple, keeping the end user interested in their activity and keep them on the vendor's site turns their activity into a profit for the program. These alternative payment methods can be customized to seamlessly blend with the gaming portal or any other venue so there is no need for excessive re-development or alterations.
If you are a developer or a distributor, do yourself a favor when you are researching e-commerce service providers and insure that they offer a flash based payment option. This is a key element when selecting an e-commerce platform and should not be overlooked.