Telefónica Digital and Samsung Electronics have announced a global agreement that will pave the way for their customers to benefit from the ease and convenience of being able to purchase apps and content via their phone bill. Samsung will be the first OEM to integrate directly with Telefónica’s billing capabilities via the BlueVia payment APIs.
Under the terms of the global framework agreement, Samsung Hub and Samsung Apps’ customers will be able to purchase apps and music, video, books, games and learning services from their devices by simply charging the payment to their phone bill or prepaid credit, avoiding the need for a credit card. The agreement covers both Samsung tablets and mobile devices.
The ease and convenience of direct to bill payments has been shown to increase sales of digital content through mobile devices. (See here for our analysis and consumer survey results.) This is especially the case in the developing world where the penetration of credit cards and even bank accounts is low.
Telefónica is committed to making operator billing available for its customers across as many devices and platforms as possible. The agreement with Samsung joins other similar agreements with companies including Google, Facebook and Microsoft.
Wayne Thorsen, Vice President of Global Partnerships at Telefónica Digital strongly believes that carrier billing has the potential to drive the monetisation of digital content and that partnerships like this allow TD to harness the power of the billing relationships it has with its customers to make it easier for them to consume content on their tablets and mobile devices.
Direct-to-bill on Samsung devices will be rolled out to Telefónica’s operating businesses in phases, and it is anticipated to start with Telefónica Germany in the coming months.
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