Telekom Austria Group Now offers Carrier Billing for BlackBerry App World in Austria

Announced in a Press Release, with the help of RIM, Telekom Austria has integrated BlackBerry App World carrier billing for customers of its operating company in Austria, A1 Telekom Austria making Austria the first country in Telekom Austria Group’s market to offer carrier billing. Read more for entire release.

Telekom Austria Group introduces integrated carrier billing to allow customers to securely and conveniently purchase apps from BlackBerry App World

Vienna – The Telekom Austria Group (VSE: TKA, OTC US: TKAGY) and Research In Motion (RIM)today announced the launch of integrated carrier billing for BlackBerry App World™ for customers of Telekom Austria Group’s operating company in Austria, A1 Telekom Austria. Austria is the first country in Telekom Austria Group’s market to enable customers to securely purchase apps from BlackBerry App World and conveniently charge the purchases directly to their monthly bill. The integrated carrier billing also supports in-app purchases, which allows a customer to quickly make an incremental purchase, such as additional features in an app or levels in a game, without interrupting the application experience.

“We always strive to offer our customers throughout the Group the most practical mobile services available on the market. There is a great demand for easy payment solutions for mobile content,” Claudia Winkler, Group Chief Marketing Officer explains. “We are happy to offer our BlackBerry smartphone users this great advantage.” BlackBerry App World offers users a wide range of more than 25,000 applications developed specifically for BlackBerry smartphones. Claudia Winkler: “Simplified and secure payment via the monthly bill adds convenience to our customers’ application experience and creates the cost transparency users ask for. We are pleased to have Research In Motion as a strong partner, and will be rolling out this service for all our customers across our markets.”

Advantage for users and developers
As customers take advantage of the convenience that carrier billing offers, developers are expected to benefit as well. According to market observers, enabling easy purchasing via the phone bill results in increased downloads and potentially higher revenues for the developer.

“We found that applications with local content are the most popular among our users. So we hope, that the new service will add momentum and encourage even more local content for BlackBerry smartphones users,” adds Claudia Winkler

full press release here