Vodafone users get to pay for apps on their phone bill

Vodafone customers in the UK and Germany will be the first in Europe to be able to pay for Android apps as part of their mobile phone bills in a move that will shore up the monopoly in the sector enjoyed by Google's Marketplace.

Vodafone hopes to take advantage of the reluctance of some people to store their credit card details on their smartphone, the Daily Telegraph reports. The mobile phone provider also hopes to profit from the many younger users who do not even have a credit card and have thus far limited to free apps. Vodafone believes that such customers make up to 90 per cent of the market in some countries.  

Contract customers will be charged for the apps they download on their monthly bills, while pay-as-you-go users will have the money deducted directly from their phone credit.

While Google will suffer because of users choosing not to register credit card details with it, The Register points out the search giant will benefit because it will shore up the monopoly enjoyed by its Marketplace app, from where most apps are downloaded.

Bill Wray writes: "For Google, operator billing encourages use of the platform, while making alternatives such as SlideMe or Amazon's app store more complicated to use." ·