Vodafone has launched over-the-air payments for apps in Europe. The new service now live in the UK, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain and will launch in Greece, Portugal and Ireland ‘before long’, allows users to buy an app and add the cost to their phone bill.
Customers on both pay monthly and pay-as-you-go tariffs will now be able to select an option on the Android Market which will process the payment via Google’s carrier billing services, bypassing its own payment service.
The Android Market now has a Vodafone content channel for users of the network, which will ‘offer customers a regularly updated selection of Vodafone services as well as the best news, sport, information and gaming apps, all sourced from VodaFone’s global and local partnerships.
Vodafone has also enforced safeguards, limiting app purchases to £30 on a single item (once per month) with a £250 monthly limit.