Android Adds Sprint To Its Carrier Billing Arsenal To Help The Paid Market Grow

One of the major hold-up in the form of paid applications for Android was the lack of bulk billing options. In the beginning there was Google Checkout, but relatively few people use it. Then Google found a better idea to link payments to invoices carrier. They were quickly able to obtain both T-Mobile and AT & T on board with him. And today, the third major U.S. carriers to come on board: Sprint.

Google says that a gradual rollout of the new option that is happening right now and should reach all customers in a few days. When completed, Sprint Android users will see the "bill on my Sprint account" payment option from the Android Market. This payment does not require the user to add other payment information, and will be charged the monthly Sprint bill.

As noted on their Google Android developers blog today:

We believe that direct bill carries an important payment option because it allows users to purchase and pay programs more easily. It is also important because it provides a convenient way to buy in areas where credit cards are less common.

With U.S. companies, Google has recently launched billing carrier in Japan with Softbank, KDDI and NTT DoCoMo.

Of course, they still lack the big fish in the U.S.: Verizon. Google will not comment on when or if the final deal can happen. You can be sure they are working on yourself.