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T-Mobile hails Direct Carrier Billing to fulfill your digital shopping desires
T-Mobile doesn't seem too wild about playing with Google Wallet, but for its part, the Bellevue-based carrier keeps dipping its toes into the mobile payment pond. As you're probably aware, its customers have been able to apply Android Market purchases to their wireless bills for a couple years, and later this month, they'll be able to do the same with digital content such as music, movies, and videos. Shopping online without needing a credit card is an obvious benefit, and the company is hoping its two-step authentication process will keep customers feeling secure. All Magenta subscribers will see the option at the time of checkout on T-Mobile's partner websites -- regardless of the device they connect with -- and they'll receive an itemized statement of purchases with their monthly bills. The feature can be disabled if you'd rather not participate, and if you're not sold yet, read the full story in the PR just past the break.
Telus gets cozy with Skype, announces Optimus Black 'Skype edition' for summer release
Telus is looking to attract Skype's Canadian constituency by positioning itself as the nation's first carrier to easily enable the VoIP habit -- an addiction we're quite fond of, in fact. In a partnership with Microsoft's latest acquisition, Telus will allow its customers to purchase Skype credits directly from their wireless accounts -- meaning credit cards won't be necessary to call mates in distant locales. For newbies, the provider is announcing a "Skype edition" of the LG Optimus Black, featuring a shortcut to download the app (rather than pre-installing it), and a $2 credit for up to 60 minutes of international calls. If you're thinking a single toonie is a bit meager, we're suspecting Mr. Ballmer was glad to save coin anywhere he could -- after dropping $8.5 billion, that is. The specially-branded phone is set for a summer release and there's no hint at pricing, but if you get your jollies from reading press releases, just follow the break for the reveal. [Thanks, Justin]
Verizon teams with Payfone for one-click mobile web purchases (Update: Official)
Verizon's already partnered with AT&T and T-Mobile on the Isis network, but it has fingers in another mobile payment pie -- the Wall Street Journal reports that the carrier's working with Payfone to let you put internet purchases right on your cell phone bill. Mind you, a previous partnership with BilltoMobile already did much the same thing, but Payfone should add more purchase possibilities and generally expand the potential offerings. Yes, perhaps direct carrier billing isn't quite as exciting as Google Wallet's brand of full-on NFC, but while you're waiting for the world to catch up with the latest in payment technology, it's something. Update: We just received a press release from Verizon detailing its partnership with Payfone. Look past the break to read it in full.
Vodafone lets Londoners pay for taxis via text message, charge their phones in transit
Mobile payment systems may be gaining only gradual steam in the US, but over on the other side of the pond, Vodafone UK has launched a broad new campaign to integrate smartphone technology where Londoners may need it most -- in the back of taxis. As of today, many cab passengers will be able to charge their smartphones in transit, thanks to a wide range of chargers that the mobile carrier has installed in more than 500 of London's iconic black vehicles. Vodafone is also rolling out a new payment scheme today, whereby cash-strapped travelers can text their cab's license number to a specific code, allowing any owed fares to be charged directly to their phone bills. The system certainly doesn't sound as elegant as some of the NFC-based operations we've heard about, but it still beats having to navigate your cab driver to the nearest ATM, with the meter tick-tocking away.
Android adds carrier billing option for Sprint users, just in time for them to load up the EVO 3D with apps
Keeping up with the AT&T&T-Mobile (future) juggernaut, Sprint has just added a direct carrier billing option for its Android customers. The same courtesy has already been extended to T-Mobile users of Google's OS back in 2009 and then to AT&T in 2010, and now Dan Hesse's crew is joining in on the credit card-hating action. Right now, this new payment option is only for splashing cash in the Android Market, however its availability ties in neatly with Google's recent acquisition of PushLife, a music store service that has carrier billing for track purchases as one of its core features. Another brick laid in the foundations of a Google Music service? Let's hope so.
RIM adding BBM app gifting to BlackBerry App World
So you've got this hot new "super app" off BlackBerry App World, and want to share it with a friend? You could message them the name of the program, but that's so 2010. Soon, BlackBerry's going to have its very own "Gift This App" functionality through BBM, which will let you take advantage of that handy new carrier billing to debit the cost of the item and wing it to your recipient. RIM envisions the functionality used by parents who want to limit their children's access too, by taking full control of their purchases and subscriptions from their own remote handset. Now, we'll just sit back, relax and wait for RIM to ping us with a release date. PR after the break.
HP revamping webOS App Catalog for tablet use, adding carrier billing and magazine-like view
If HP wants webOS to be a competitive mobile ecosystem, the platform's app store has an awful lot of catching up to do -- but in terms of raw features, it sounds like the company plans to get with the program soon. PreCentral attended a developer presentation at MWC 2011 where HP showed off a brand new version of the App Catalog specifically designed for the tablet-friendly webOS 3.0, and found it will come with a handful of features that should make it eminently more useful. As you can see in the image above, there are presently four tabs, but two of them are worth calling out: the "Browser" is said to be a magazine-like interface for browsing through apps, while the "Saved" tab lets you bookmark apps you're interested in to consider for purchase or download later on. Perhaps more importantly, the process of actually paying for programs should be streamlined quite soon: HP told attendees that carrier billing and promo codes would find their way into the webOS App Catalog by summer at the very latest, in time for a webOS 3.0 launch, which suggests that it could possibly hit smartphones even a mite sooner.
Google 'not happy' with Android Market purchase rates, many changes coming
Having a Market full of apps is a very good thing for owners of Android handsets, but those owners buying few premium apps is a bad thing for developers who keep that Market full. That, of course, is also bad news for Google, which is making a variety of changes to appease devs, some of which Android Platform Manager Eric Chu outlined at the Inside Social Apps conference yesterday. After already nuking the 24 hour trial period Google is now working on an in-app payment system, which would enable the direct-selling of add-ons, costumes, and enough other bits and bobs to ensure you'll never buy a fully-featured app again. Google is also negotiating with more carriers to allow users to have app purchases appear on their bill, rather than using a separate payment system, as is already possible on AT&T. Finally, a team of honest to gosh humans is working on helping to weed out apps that violate the company's terms of service, sifting through the Market to find bogus downloads, perhaps an admission that the "open and unobstructed environment" ideal isn't working out. We wonder if they'll also be looking for free apps that quite capably provide the functionality of premium ones. Those, it seems, are the greatest threat to the paid apps -- and perhaps the greatest asset of the Market itself.
Google adds AT&T billing to Android Market payment options
Having rolled out to T-Mobile just about a year ago, Google's celebrating the anniversary of its Android Market carrier billing feature in the US by expanding the service to AT&T. Put simply, this means that if you're using an Android device on an AT&T line, you'll no longer need to use a credit card -- you can just bill your purchases straight to your AT&T bill, which is painless... almost too painless, really, if you're the compulsive type. And no, we're not aware of a way to bill a Froyo update for your Captivate to your account -- but believe us, we'll keep on looking.
BlackBerry App World 2.0 leaves beta, includes cheaper apps and new payment options
The latest version of BlackBerry App World is now available to all, and it includes a number of welcome additions. First off, RIM has dropped the $2.99 minimum from paid apps, so now BlackBerry developers can release $0.99 and $1.99 apps just like everybody else. It's also easier to buy those apps now, with credit card and carrier billing becoming available, and the new BlackBerry ID function lets you both perform those credit card payments and to easily move all your apps over to a new BlackBerry device when the time comes. RIM has also enacted a few new app discovery mechanisms for hunting down those "Super Apps" (BlackBerry users know what we're talking about), but it's not all gravy: the developer revenue split is down to 70 / 30 from RIM's original exception-to-the-rule 80 / 20. PR is after the break.
T-Mobile rolling out Android Market carrier billing -- on some phones
The good news is that you don't need to hook up that shady Google character (whoever that is) with your credit card information anymore when you're looking to buy paid Android apps from the Market if you're on T-Mobile -- the bad news, though, is that only 1.6-powered phones are getting the update at this point. Over the course of December, the carrier's going to be pushing a new version of the Android Market on the G1 and myTouch 3G that lets folks charge purchases straight to their phone bills, and -- in line with Google's existing policy -- you'll have a 24-hour trial period before the billing actually goes through. For the time being, CLIQ and Behold II users are being left out in the cold, a sign that carrier billing is joined at the hip with the revamped Market that was pushed out with Donut. That sucks, but we suppose you could look at that one of two ways: either it'll end up getting back-ported to 1.5, or -- more intriguingly -- 1.6 will end up happening sooner or later for those guys.
Nokia loses carrier billing for US Ovi Store launch
Nokia needs to pull out all the heavy artillery -- major device launches, carrier support, impressive software, and a seamless user experience -- if it wants the Ovi Store to succeed on a grand scale, and by all accounts, they're serious about making that happen with the recent integrations of MOSH and WidSets. Here's the thing, though: for many, direct carrier billing could be a big part of that "seamless user experience" thing, and recognizing that, Nokia had planned to offer it from the get-go in the US (along with eight other countries) when it launches next month. That's now been called off for the States for an undisclosed reason -- carriers around here are notoriously finicky in their relationships with manufacturers and we wouldn't be surprised if it all came down to a few heated boardroom discussions with the big wigs -- but whatever the cause, users will need to roll with a less-integrated payment option to start. Of course, alternatives from RIM, Apple, and Android aren't offering carrier billing here either -- but this was a cool opportunity to get a leg up, so here's hoping they end up getting this one worked out.
