Operator billing doubles app sales

Operator billing doubles app sales

New BlackBerry app sales data from Vodafone reveals that users who pay via their bills buy twice as many apps

Mobile phone users who pay for apps via their mobile phone bill buy twice as many as those who use credit cards, new data from Vodafone reveals.

The network, which has recently announced it will offer operator billing for Android, already offers it for Nokia and BlackBerry apps in the UK.
Tobin Ireland, Vodafone’s Group Commercial Development Director, said that since turning on operator billing for BlackBerry apps, customers had installed 100 per cent more and paid for 70 per cent more.
Mr Ireland said that he expected the Android Market to evolve as more customers became used to paying for applications. Currently, Apple apps are much more likely to cost money than Android apps, which are more typically free.
The high take-up of paid-for Apple apps is in part down to the convenience of users being able to buy apps via their iTunes account.
“You can stimulate and shape ecosystems but you can’t determine them,” Mr Ireland conceded. “But I would expect the Android Market, over time, to be rebalanced much more to what you see in the Apple App store”.
Mr Tobin also said that operators such as Vodafone would continue to use their own stores and pages in the Android Market to provide specific guidance to their customers and to promote specific apps. Initially, Vodafone operator billing will only be available on Android handsets bought directly, either online or in shops.
Elsewhere, operator billing is claimed to have increased app sales by up to 1,300 per cent, but Vodadfone's numbers are the most recent examples. The effect of operator billing on Android purchases is likely to be greater than that seen in Nokia or BlackBerry's app stores because Android offers a more extensive range.