Fortumo is doing a lot of things right. This Premium SMS payment provider is from a small country, has a small organization and came to the game late, but those are proving to be its biggest advantages.
Headquartered in Tartu, Estonia, Fortumo was born close to Nokia’s home country and original hotbed of Premium SMS action, Finland. But far from being content staying close to home, it has embarked on a bold mission to conquer the world.
So far, it’s doing great. Free of the bureaucracy of traditional telco conglomerates, Fortumo has expanded rapidly to some 60 countries in a matter of a couple of years since being founded in 2007. Some of its more notable customers include Rovio, the maker of Angry Birds, and BarnBuddy, the popular Facebook and Hi5 game.
Easy setup
Fortumo’s initial registration process is simple and straightforward. Where its big French competitor, Allopass, requires a substantial amount of documentation for account validation, including ID copies, bank statements and address proof, Fortumo just asks some simple information and we’re ready to go. The claim of reaching global markets in 15 minutes is not far fetched.
There is no cost to open the account with Fortumo. Neither do they charge any monthly fees.
The SMS payment service is easy to set up. Countries can be chosen by simply clicking on flags. For additional speed, the system suggests suitable price points in different countries, although these can be set individually. The suggested short codes (numbers where messages are sent) are fairly good and easy to remember. Keywords can be chosen freely, but their availability of course depends on if someone has already chosen the same keyword – despite Fortumo’s growing popularity, many good ones still seem to be available, especially in smaller markets.
