Price differentiation by market for in-app software purchases

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9665891-B2
Application number	US-201313749474-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 24, 2013
Priority date	Jan 24, 2013
Publication date	May 30, 2017
Grant date	May 30, 2017

Abstract

Different prices may be charged for an In-App Purchase (IAP) for a same item based on a market associated with the user. For example, a user in one market may be charged a different price for an item than what is charged for the item to a user in a different market. A different product identifier is associated with the item for each of the different markets for the item. The item is submitted to the application store as different items that have the different product identifiers for each of the different markets. When an IAP request for an item is received from a user, a market that is associated with the user is determined based on a location associated with the user. After determining the market for the user, the product identifier that identifies the product is used to obtain the item from the application store.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for price differentiation by market for In-App Purchases, comprising:
receiving, at a computing device, an In-App Purchase (IAP) request from a processing device to purchase an item from an application store, wherein the request comprises location information for the processing device;
determining a market associated with the processing device based on the location information;
selecting, from a data storage connected with the computing device, a product identifier for the item from a plurality of product identifiers for the item based on the determined market and an identifier of the item from the request;
extracting, from the data storage, the product identifier and purchase information associated with the product identifier; and
transmitting to the processing device, the purchase information for the item that corresponds to the product identifier.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the market associated with the user comprises determining a country that is associated with an account of the user in the application store.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the product identifier for the item comprises, the application determining the product identifier from a mapping that includes product identifiers and corresponding markets.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the application store comprises items used by iOS applications.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the item is at least one of: a subscription, a consumable purchase and a nonconsumable purchase.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the item is a same product that has different product IDs for each of the markets.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising associating a different price with each of the different markets.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the market associated with the user comprises receiving a location property from the application store in response to the IAP request that identifies a location of an account for the user for the application store.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the market associated with the user comprises receiving a location property from the application store that identifies a country for the user.

10. A computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to execute a method comprising:
receiving, at a computing device, an In-App Purchase (IAP) request from an application on an iOS device to purchase an item from an application store, wherein the request comprises location information for the iOS device;
determining a market associated with the iOS device based on the location information;
selecting, from a data storage connected with the computing device, a product identifier for the item from a plurality of product identifiers for the item based on the determined market and an identifier of the item from the request;
extracting, from the data storage, the product identifier and purchase information associated with the product identifier; and
transmitting to the processing device, the purchase information for the item that corresponds to the product identifier.

11. The computer-readable storage media of claim 10 , wherein determining the market associated with the user comprises determining a country that is associated with an account of the user in the application store.

12. The computer-readable storage media of claim 10 , wherein determining the product identifier for the item comprises, the application determining the product identifier from using stored product identifiers.

13. The computer-readable storage media of claim 10 , wherein the item is at least one of: a subscription, a consumable purchase and a nonconsumable purchase.

14. The computer-readable storage media of claim 10 , wherein the item is a same product that has different product IDs for each of the markets.

15. The computer-readable storage media of claim 10 , wherein determining the market associated with the user comprises receiving a location property from the application store in response to the IAP request that identifies a location of an account for the user for the application store.

16. A system for price differentiation by market for In-App Purchases, comprising:
a processor and memory;
an operating environment executing using the processor;
a display; and
a market manager that is configured to perform actions comprising:
receiving an In-App Purchase (IAP) request from an application executing on a processing device to purchase an item from an application store, wherein the request comprises location information for the processing device;
determining a market associated with the processing device based on the location information;
selecting, from a data storage connected with the system, at least two product identifiers for the item based on the determined market and an identifier of the item;
extracting, from the data storage, the at least two product identifiers and purchase information associated with the at least two product identifiers; and
outputting to the processing device, the purchase information for the item that corresponds to the at least two product identifiers.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein determining the market associated with the user comprises determining a country that is associated with an account of the user in the application store.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein determining of the at least two product identifiers for the item further comprises, the application determining the product identifier from a listing of stored product identifiers for the item.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein the item is one of: a subscription, a consumable purchase and a nonconsumable purchase.

20. The system of claim 16 , wherein determining the market associated with the user comprises receiving a location property from the application store in response to the IAP request that identifies a location of an account for the user for the application store.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Novick Steven
• Lau Daniel
• Sinha Avijit

Classifications

• G06Q30/0635

  replenishment orders; recurring orders · CPC title

• G06Q30/0283 Primary

  Price estimation or determination · CPC title

• H04M15/43

  Billing software details · CPC title

• H04W4/24

  Accounting or billing · CPC title

• H04M15/80

  Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects · CPC title