Android Market may expand mobile carrier billing options

Google has made changes to its Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement (DDA) that could mean that app purchases will be able to go directly through more mobile carriers’ billing statements, instead of only through Google Checkout.

Currently, only T-Mobile post-paid subscribers in the US have the option to purchase Android apps through their mobile billing account (i.e. app purchases are just added to your monthly statement). However, Google announced on Friday that they have added these lines to the DDA and that existing developers have 30 days to accept them (which probably means nothing will change until that 30 days is up):

In Section 13.1, “authorized carriers” have been added as an indemnified party.

Section 13.2 is new in its entirety, covering indemnity for payment processors for claims related to tax accrual.

In a blog post, Google says that, “[These changes are] in preparation for some work we’re doing on introducing new payment options, which we think developers will like.” With all of the Android phones hitting the market these days – especially on Verizon – if Google does in fact add a couple of more carriers’ billing methods to the Market, this could be very beneficial for both users that might not wish to deal with Google Checkout, and for developers that are looking to tip the scales to more paid Android apps.

We’ve said before on this blog that we think highly of the Android Market, and if users on mobile networks other than T-Mobile can add this type of billing, the Market just got that much better.