Samsung Apps store announces Premium SMS Billing option

Samsung Electronics South Africa announces that its Samsung Apps store for Android devices has officially gone live with a premium SMS Billing option.

“Until now, the only way to purchase from the Samsung App store was via a credit card,” said Deon Liebenberg, MD of Samsung South Africa. “However, given the diversity of our country, in some instances this has prevented some consumers from purchasing relevant content on the store. Today this changes, as our premium SMS billing option becomes available – allowing consumers to purchase content easily and conveniently using a preferred method of payment.”

With this service, customers can now choose the phone billing option (credit card or SMS) at the time of purchasing paid-for apps. Should customers choose the new SMS option, the purchase will be confirmed automatically via SMS and the download costs either reflect on the monthly phone bill if the consumer has a monthly contract, or via a deduction from their phone credit balance, if on prepaid.

“We are always looking for ways to make relevant content and applications more accessible and this is just another example of our commitment to doing just that,” adds Liebenberg. “In line with this, we are also growing our team and would like to welcome Andrew Syrett on board. Andrew brings with him a wealth of experience and expertise and was instrumental in this billing and network payment structure. As a team, we certainly look forward to creating an apps eco-system relevant to both developers and consumers.”

The premium SMS Billing service is available across all Samsung Android devices and across MTN, Vodacom and Cell C networks in South Africa.