Telefónica Digital and Samsung Electronics have announced a global deal that’ll add direct mobile billing to the Samsung Hub and Samsung Apps services.
It means that Telefonica customers will be able to charge the price of apps and other content to their mobile phone bill. Samsung is the first manufacturer that’s integrating directly with Telefónica’s billing systems via the BlueVia payment APIs.
Blackberry, Google, Facebook and Microsoft already have similar mobile billing agreements with Telefonica.
Wayne Thorsen, vice president of Global Partnerships at Telefónica Digital, said “We strongly believe that carrier billing has the potential to drive the monetisation of digital content. Partnerships like this allow us to harness the power of the billing relationships we have with our customers to make it easier for them to consume content on their tablets and mobile devices.”
The roll-out of direct billing is expected to start with Telefónica Germany (O2).