I would hope the user gets to pick how they want billing done. Some users may prefer giving a credit cards (especially if you have affinity programs) while others may want the convenience of it showing up on their monthly bill.

Steve

Chris, if this new ability to purchase apps through your T-Mobile bill creates an influx of inflated cell bills, as some blog comments have suggested elsewhere, I wanted to add a tip for seriously cutting your wireless costs; an intuitive but often realistically tough proposition. However, I work in the consumer advocacy division of the Houston-based company Validas, where we electronically audit and subsequently reduce the average cell bill by 22 percent through our website, http://www.fixmycellbill.com (and I'll add that 22 percent equates to over $450 per year for the average user).

You can find out for free if fixmycellbill.com can modify your plan to better suit your individual needs by going to the website. Check out Validas in the media, most recently on Fox News at http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/consumer/conlaw/lower_cell_phone_bills_072409 .

Good luck to everyone reading on retaking control over your wireless expenses and potentially freeing up some extra cash this holiday season.

Dylan
Consumer Advocacy, Fixmycellbill.com

Here's another tip to cut your cell phone bill -- check if your employer has a discount plan with your carrier. As a government contractor, I found that I was eligible for a discount from my employer or from the government (I chose my employer as that was 20%; the government discount was 15%).

As for the FixMyCellBill service, how does that compare to billshrink.com (the service T-Mobile mentioned in some of their ads)?

Steve

Steve, thanks for the response. FixMyCellBill.com, powered by the company Validas, takes a unique approach to wireless bill auditing for consumer, corporate, and municipal clients in its speed, accuracy, and fundamental principle that a current wireless plan can often be modified into an ideal wireless plan through close analysis. FixMyCellBill.com turns your "off-the-rack" cell plan into a custom-tailored suit that is ideally consistent with your individual needs.

While FixMyCellBill.com is a paid service, at $5 for the results of single bill audit, the audit itself is free and so the dollar amount of subsequent savings possible through FixMyCellBill's modifications to your plan are provided free of charge and, importantly, without any commitment of purchase. If you won't save at least $5 through FixMyCellBill.com, don't use the service. Again, I'll mention that the average user saves $450 annually through FixMyCellBill.com.

Finally, FixMyCellBill.com directly contacts your carrier to implement the suggested changes to your plan should you buy an audit. This eliminates the often confusing process of dealing with the carriers yourself or waiting for hours on hold.

It's also important to stress that FixMyCellBill.com is an independent company that is not affiliated with any wireless provider.

I hope this cleared things up for you, Steve. Thanks again for your interest.

Dylan

Actually Chris whenever anyone touches a carrier's network, the carrier has to be involved and the (flaming, spiked) loops to leap through are non trivial for implementation. And since Google basically owns everything in the core Android stack, I'd be pretty willing to bet that Google was intimately involved with this process.

They should be absolutely on board with this. You figure.. they are gonna get there money from you anyway. Even if they have to cut you off from service. They just need to implement Family Allowance and additional restrictions to manage spending limits for family plans.