Sprint adds Android app pack partners, launches mobile wallet

Sprint (NYSE:S) continues adding content publisher partners to Sprint ID, its new mobile content packaging initiative collecting apps, widgets, ringtones, wallpapers and related media into a single download experience, bundled together under one overarching brand or theme. New Sprint ID consumer partners include AOL, UPS, Canvas, IHG and BodyMedia, as well as enterprise partner Deluxe. For now, Sprint ID is limited to Android smartphones--subscribers can add up to five ID packs plus the My ID basic Android experience with a single touch, promising seamless movement between a host of applications.

As previously reported by FierceMobileContent, Sprint also unveiled a new mobile wallet solution slated to go live in mid-November. Sprint Mobile Wallet enables subscribers to use buy physical and digital products directly from their phones, entering a universal PIN code and billing purchases to their existing Visa, MasterCard and Amazon Payments accounts. Sprint stresses that the Mobile Wallet tool is not a carrier billing mechanism, instead calling it a "container" for on-the-go customers to leverage traditional payment methods. Authenticated payments services provider CardinalCommerce will host all transactions--merchant partners include SkyMall, Gameloft and Namco. Sprint Mobile Wallet will initially roll out as a Sprint Zone download, with the carrier preloading the service on new devices beginning in 2011.

In a recent interview with FierceMobileContent, Sprint director of open enablement Kevin McGinnis said the Mobile Wallet solution will assist publishers looking to charge for mobile content like ID app packs. "We don't feel like it's our role to determine the value of their content," McGinnis said. "If a brand or a special interest or an individual feels like a consumer has an interest in their ID pack and will pay a price for it, then by all means, they should have the opportunity to do that. We'll provide monetization vehicles."

For more on Sprint ID and Sprint Mobile Wallet:
- read this release

Related articles:
Sprint's McGinnis talks Sprint ID and redefining the mobile app experience
Sprint introducing mobile wallet to simplify app purchases
Sprint customizes Android devices with pre-packaged apps, widgets
Sprint re-emerges as mobile content innovator
Sprint adds GetJar's free mobile apps catalog