Telefonica Digital is trying to create a fully fledged software platform with its BlueVia technology, and its payments APIs (application programming interfaces) are currently the most important element of that ambitious push. The Spanish operator has won a significant breakthrough with a carrier billing agreement with Samsung, allowing content and apps purchased in the handset giant’s various stores to be charged to a Telefonica bill.
This deal harnesses the BlueVia APIs, a significant weapon in Telefonica’s attempt to build a full digital and web business, in many cases independent of its actual networks. The API is already supported by Google, Facebook, Microsoft, BlackBerry and Bango, but Samsung is the biggest device partner to date.
Carrier billing is particularly popular in emerging markets, such as Telefonica’s Latin American strongholds, where credit card use is less common than in Europe and the US. Once Google Play was linked to Telefonica’s bill, Samsung risked losing Android content customers because Play was more convenient, just as it was trying to build up its own platform and brand identity on Android, separate from Google’s, and generate its own software revenues.
The new option will be available first to Telefonica O2 users in Germany and then be rolled out to most Telefonica subsidiaries after that.