“Apple’s gradual rollout of carrier billing that started last year with Germany and Russia has reached Japan, where iPhone users can now buy mobile games and charge them to their phone bill, according to sources familiar with the matter,” Ari Levy reports for CNBC. “Starting Tuesday, customers of KDDI, Japan’s second-largest mobile phone company, have the option in the Apple App Store to pay by mobile, said the sources, who asked not to be named because the deal hasn’t been announced. Japanese consumers who don’t have credit or debit cards can participate in the mobile economy.”
“Carrier billing represents another battlefield between Apple and its chief rival Google, and one where the tech giants are taking very different approaches. Google Play, the app store on Android devices, has been signing up as many global carriers as possible and now has mobile billing availability in 45 markets, including deals with Japan’s top three phone companies,” Levy reports. “By contrast, Apple has been quite deliberate in its expansion, starting in Germany with Telefonica’s O2 in late October, followed by VimpelCom’s Beeline unit in Russia five weeks later. On Monday, the rollout hit Switzerland through a deal with Swisscom and Far EasTone in Taiwan.”
“Having seen positive results from its initial deals, Apple has several more countries in the near-term pipeline, sources said,” Levy reports. “Carrier billing has distinct advantages over plastic. Consumers are already paying their phone bills every month, so it’s much easier to add items with the simple tap of a button than it is to type in information from a credit card or link to a PayPal account.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Reducing friction is smart business.
This is good, but carriers usually charge more than banks (exempi gratia 5% versus 2%), so it is better to have actual debit or credit bank.
Third???
Europe 1st
China 2nd
3rd?
Original Headline: “Apple brings mobile billing to Japanese iPhone users” and it’s really a quiet move, so quiet that no one has written any articles about it.
Oh and to solve the moral ethical dilemma that may be causing some people I better put a /shjtt tag and for those who need to have satire, humor jokes and tall tales pointed out to them I’m including a /shjtt tag here so that you know that this post falls into the category of satire, humor and tall tale. Good thing too, cause otherwise it might fly off.
All this and morning coffee.
/shjtt