Boku Wednesday announced the public release of Boku Direct, a new payments product that enables qualified merchants to integrate carrier billing functionality directly into their billing system. Boku Direct enables merchants to freely process payments using their own branded checkout flow for both one-time and recurring payments, according to the press release.

"The rise of one tap or invisible checkout experiences or what some have called the 'Uber-ization of payments' opens a unique opportunity for carriers land grab a greater share of mobile payments," Boku CEO Jon Prideaux said in a press release. "By allowing a mobile number to be saved as a payment method the same way a credit card number can be saved means the long-held advantages of credit cards are significantly diminished. Boku Direct shepherds carrier billing into this new world."

Boku said Boku Direct is the result of the company's work with the world's largest online merchants and app stores including Microsoft Windows Store, Google Play, Spotify Premium, Facebook App Center, Sony Playstation Store, and hundreds more. In the case of Microsoft, Boku Direct enabled a cross-platform, cross-device wallet in which users save their mobile number once to their Windows account and can use it to make purchases on any Windows 10 device.

Boku said the initial custom integrations of Boku Direct have been extremely popular with merchants like Microsoft, which led to the decision to open the technology more broadly. The volume processed using Boku Direct technology has grown by over 20 times over the last year, accounting for nearly one third of all payments processed by the company.