Elijah Ketchum
The Google Play Store has just expanded it payment option capabilities, with Google announcing the new option to bill you purchases to your monthly carrier bill. This has been done before, through AT&T even (back when it was still called the Android Market), but Google has now made more than apps available for purchase through carrier billing. Now, with carrier billing you can purchase just about anything that you would like on the Play Store, including music, movie rentals, and of course, paid applications.
This isn’t just specific to the US either, as a number of global carriers have agreed to work with Google, bringing carrier billing to 7 countries as of right now with “more coming soon.” The carriers that have partnered with Google are pretty varying as well. Verizon is the only major US carrier to still not be on board, and we’re not all that surprised as it is most likely for similar reasons as Verizon not wanting Google Wallet either. Currently customers of T-Mobile, AT&T, and Sprint will be able to access carrier-billing, and Google is still stressing the fact that more will be on board “soon.”
In other nations across the globe, carriers are beginning to allow this type of billing as well. While it is not yet widely available, this can really change how we pay for applications and other types of media. For example, it is much easier for people, especially those without credit cards, to purchase media if they just have to bill it to their monthly carrier bill. Parents will likely feel much better about giving their child the go-ahead then giving them all of their credit or debit credentials.
We’ll be sure to keep you up to date on any other carriers and county that jump on board, and we have a full list of the current carriers below.
- Germany: T-Mobile, Vodafone
- Italy: Vodafone
- Japan: KDDI, Docomo, Softbank
- Korea: KT, SKT, LGU+
- UK: T-Mobile, Vodafone
- US: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile
Source: Google Play’s Google+ via The Verge
