Patent ID: 7848736

Claim:
A method for billing a mobile device user for a service, application, content, information, product, or some combination thereof (services) requested by the mobile device user, the method comprising the steps of: making the services available through an online community; receiving a request from the mobile device user for the services; determining if a predefined package of premium messages and standard messages corresponding to a package price is associated with the requested services and the mobile device user; processing, in the event that a predefined package of premium messages and standard messages corresponding to a package price is associated with the requested services, the received request by: determining if the received request is the first request associated with the predefined package; causing, in the event that the received message is the first request associated with the predefined package, a premium message containing a price code that represents the package price to be sent to the mobile device user; and causing, in the event that the received request is not the first request associated with the predefined package, a standard message which does not contain a price code to be sent to the mobile device user; and processing, in the event that a predefined package of premium messages and standard messages corresponding to a package price is not associated with the requested services, the received request by causing a premium message containing a price code that represents a single-message price which is different than the package price to be sent to the mobile device user.