The agreement means that hundreds of millions of consumers using Samsung devices will have access to frictionless payment for digital goods - apps, music, games and more - charging the cost to their phone bill in one click.

Bango will provide carrier billing, collection and settlement for digital content purchased through Samsung’s app store, named Samsung Galaxy Apps. The roll-out begins immediately. Samsung Galaxy Apps is focused on exclusive content, discounts and promotional offers. Taking a curated approach, apps in the store have been extensively tested and reviewed to ensure that only the very best make it to the device.

Carrier billing is emerging as a vital enabler of mobile commerce, superseding credit and debit cards, and instead using the mass market of phone and phone bill to democratize access to the universe of digital content.

The world’s app stores, with one notable exception, are racing to embrace carrier billing, recognizing its transformative effect on digital sales. Samsung today joins Amazon, BlackBerry World, Facebook, Firefox Marketplace, Google Play and Windows Phone Store in choosing Bango to power their carrier billing capability.

Analysis of Bango’s own payment data shows this effect. Where consumers are only presented with a credit/debit card payment option, conversion rates can be as low as 0.5% in developing markets, and rarely exceed 40% even in developed markets where card penetration is high. From January 1st 2014 to August 31st 2014, the average conversion rate for carrier billing in app stores using the Bango Payments Platform was 82.4% (based on a sample of five app store integrations, excludes integrations with a monthly spend cap in place.)