Two weeks ago, Google announced a series of expansions to carrier billing options for Play Store Apps, Movies, Books, and Music on various carriers. While some changes went into effect immediately, Sprint, which already allowed direct billing for apps, was one carrier that was listed as "coming soon."
As of today, all three additional options are available to Sprint customers: books, music, and movies. Not surprisingly, carrier billing is the default option since it's by far the cheapest to carriers and Google as they get to bypass credit card fees. While this addition doesn't benefit everyone, I can see a few handy uses for carrier billing:
- you don't own a credit card at all
- you don't want to add a credit card to your Wallet account for some reason, be it security, paranoia, or a medical condition that prevents you from typing 16 digits in a row (also known as laziness)
- you don't want to pollute your credit card statement with multiple charges
- you don't want your significant others with access to your credit card statement to see what you're doing
Enjoy, Sprinters!
Verizon folks, on the other hand, you're out of luck - Big Red is the only major U.S. carrier that hasn't announced plans for carrier billing yet.