Last month Apple turned on carrier billing in iTunes in Germany, allowing consumers to charge things like app payments and music purchases to their mobile account instead of credit or debit cards.
Now it was flagged to us that Beeline, a mobile carrier in Russia, quietly turned on the ability to make
Apple launches Carrier Billing in emerging markets
payments in iTunes through their billing system.
iTunes costs have previously only been payable using credit or debit cards linked to customers’ accounts, but German O2 customers have spotted a carrier billing option on iTunes billing pages as reported by TechCrunch, suggesting the company may be poised to roll it out across Europe.
Customers are prompted to enter their phone number to add the cost of the app, track, film or other iTunes purchase to their mobile bill, removing the reliance on a credit or debit card, or even a bank account.
In both instances, carrier billing is provided as an option on iTunes accounts for the purchase of digital music, books, games and other apps. Users simply type in their mobile phone number to enable charges to be added to their monthly airtime bill.
It marks the first time that carrier billing has been made available as an option for the purchase of goods on iTunes.
Both Beeline and O2 have implemented carrier billing from Boku as an option for subscribers buying digital goods via their mobile.
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