Optus has announced that it will partner with BlackBerry and online payment system Boku to create a new online payment system that will let customers send the cost of credits, games and apps to their Optus bill to pay later when their monthly bill comes.
“Optus is always exploring ways to create hassle-free experiences for our customers and being able to purchase online and have the cost appear on their Optus bill brings a new level of convenience to their digital lives,” Austin Bryan, Vice President of Digital Communities and Ecosystems for Singtel and Optus.
Through Boku, users will be able to pay for any Facebook-related costs with their phone (such as FarmVille credits). Users will then get a message to confirm, and once that is done, it is simply charged to your bill. The BlackBerry partnership will allow owners to pay for apps from the BlackBerry App World store.
Optus is touting that it “is more secure than using credit and debit cards” and is far more easier than registering bank accounts to an account on the web. It also says that it will announce new partnerships in the future.
While it is a start, it is missing the support for Google Play carrier billing – which isn’t the fault of Optus in itself, as carrier billing requires a Google Wallet account (“Note that going through the setup flow to use carrier billing will register you for a Google Wallet account for the Google Account you’re using,” it says in its FAQ page). Add to the fact that iOS does not support carrier billing in itself, it is a relatively small thing on the Optus network.
Also, one must consider not to charge too much on carrier billing and go on a spending spree.
Optus has said this will be available for both pre-paid and post-paid mobile customers.