It seems that Telefonica (the Spanish telecoms provider) are going into mobile billing in a big way. They have now set up agreements with Facebook, RIM, Google and Microsoft to enable Direct-To-Bill payments. I am pretty confident that not everyone has a credit card so the ability to buy apps and have the cost added to your mobile bill each month will be welcomed by many.
Telefonica have already started rolling out the service and hope to have it up and running in 14 of their operating countries by the end of this year.
"Mobile payments are an important part of the business model for mobile web developers, but today the options are too complicated for users," said Dan Rose, vice-president of Partnerships at Facebook."We're excited to be working with Telefónica to implement a streamlined operator billing solution that simplifies the purchase process for their consumers and expands pricing options for mobile web developers.”
Where this will come in handy for many Windows Phone users is with the billing agreement Telefonica have agreed with Microsoft. Direct-To-Bill will become the default payment option for customers purchasing from the Windows Marketplace.
Good news I reckon.
Source: SiliconRepublic
