The world’s top handset manufacturer has signed up for Telefónica’s carrier billing service, which will let customers buy apps and content through the Samsung app store and charge it to their phone bill. Read more »
In the slicing-up of the mobile content pie, carriers have been left out over the last few years. But, according to a new analyst report, that situation’s starting to change. Read more »
Add it to my tab, please: Verizon customers can soon add app and media content purchases from Google Play to their monthly phone bill, Google confirmed Thursday. Google previously struck similar partnerships with other U.S. carriers. Read more »
The Wholesale Application Community’s dream of a single pool of APIs shared among all global carriers may have died, but Telefónica may be trying to revive it. It’s recruited fellow mega-operator Telenor into its BlueVia developer platform. Together they reach 400 million global subscribers. Read more »
Facebook is turning on new streamlined carrier billing mobile web payments thanks to an integration with Bango. The payments, which can boost conversions up to 77 percent compared to 40 percent for traditional carrer billing payments, are going live in the US, UK and Germany. Read more »
Boku, one of the leaders in carrier billing, has finally signed a direct billing deal with Sprint, giving it direct integration with all four major U.S. operators. The broad coverage should make it more appealing to merchants and open up potential sales of non-digital goods. Read more »
Boku, which recently introduced a white label platform called Boku Accounts with Mastercard that allows operators to offer in-store mobile payment services, has received $35 million in new funding from New Enterprise Associates and Telefonica Digital, to help it go after offline payments. Read more »
Boku up until now has been known for enabling carrier billing for online goods. But the San Francisco payment start-up is leaping into the physical world with the launch of a new white label offering for carriers that will include in-store payments. Read more »
PayPal, which has been a powerhouse in online payments but hasn’t really cracked the market for real-world payments of goods, is starting to show off how it can put all of its components and recent acquisitions together to form a broad tool for mobile payments. Read more »
Canadian carrier Rogers has filed to become a bank under Canada’s Federal Bank Act, which will allow it to pursue more mobile payments services and a “niche credit card opportunity” for consumers. Expect more carriers to go the same route as the mobile payment opportunity explodes. Read more »
This year, much of the promise of mobile payments seems like it is finally coming together. GigaOM chose 25 mobile payments companies who are exerting the most influence in the mobile payment space, showing where it is and where it’s going. Read more »
Mobile payments start-up Boku has signed a deal with Telefonica, the huge mobile carrier with almost 300 million subscribers, who will use Boku to power its payment API for BlueVia, its global developer program. It comes a week after Boku secured deals with two French carriers. Read more »
The way people have been talking about near field communication, digital wallets and carrier billing, you’d think consumers were ready to embrace mobile payments. But Consumer Reports said consumers may not be as excited about paying for goods with their phones, nor should they be. Read more »
American Express’ Serve digital wallet is on a roll lining up carrier partners. Verizon announced Monday that it will support Serve payments on many Verizon smartphones and tablets in the coming months, allowing people to pay for online and offline goods by entering their phone number. Read more »
Verizon Wireless is tapping Payfone, an emerging mobile payment platform, to offer its customers a way to pay for online items via their cell phone bill. The deal illustrates the kind of scale Payfone is putting together with its new payment service. Read more »
This week brought news of several hot new Android handsets: one is already available online, while the other two will arrive soon. With dual-core processors, high definition video capability and fast connections, these will help drive the Android “army” which grows by 350,000 devices each day. Read more »
Google has worked out carrier billing with Sprint, which should be rolling out in the next few days to all Sprint customers using Android devices. That could help boost software sales in the Android Market, as consumers prefer carrier billing to other methods. Read more »
Paying for Android apps is getting a lot easier for AT&T users now that the operator is adding carrier billing for its Android users. The update brings a much needed payment alternative to Android Market and hopefully points toward carrier billing support from all carriers soon. Read more »
