Samsung introduces SMS billing for apps in South Africa

One of the drawbacks to the app stores is that most of the time they require users to own a credit card to make a purchase. This can be circumvented by using gift cards, but for those who do not have access to gift cards or a credit card, this could hamper their smartphone experience and this is a problem Samsung is looking to fix as they have announced that residents of South Africa will be able to purchase and pay for Android apps from Samsung’s own app store via SMS billing.

Acting pretty much like a prepaid phone, SMS billing will allow users to top up credit on both prepaid and postpaid accounts, thus allowing the user to purchase apps from the app store, much like how text overages, ringtones and SMS content are normally purchased. It is a pretty good idea and we have to wonder if Samsung will be rolling out a similar service to the rest of the world, but we guess that will be highly dependent on the carrier if they are willing to work with Samsung on this. What do you guys think?