Google has announced that its Play Store will now accept PayPal as a payment method following the new 4.8.19 update. This update is rolling out to Android devices right now.
"Our goal is to provide users with a frictionless payment experience, and this new integration is another example of how we work with partners from across the payments industry to deliver this to the user," said Ibrahim Elbouchikhi, Google Play Product Manager, explaining the move.
Android users who have longed to escape from credit cards or carrier billing when purchasing apps or media in the Google Play Store will be happy to hear that the PayPal payment support is now available. Please note that PayPal within Play is only limited to just 13 countries at this time, however support for other countries is expected to follow.
Countries now supporting PayPal as a payment option include:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Canada
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Ireland
- Italy
- Netherlands
- Spain
- United Stated
- United Kingdom
Apps and Digital content only
It is worth noting that only apps and digital content can be purchased using PayPal, and other products and services will still have to be bought using the online banking site.
Support for carrier billing, the function which allows users to charge purchases in Google Play directly to their phone bill and avoiding using banks at all, has also been added for seven more countries, now covering a total of 24, whilst Google Play gift cards are now available to a total of 13 countries. You can find a full breakdown of payment options by country from here.
Google also announced that sales on the Play Store have increased by around 300 per cent and two thirds of all purchases now come from outside the US To exp[and further, thirteen new countries have been added those where developers can sell apps via Google Play. Mountain View has also increased its buyer currency support to 28 new countries, now making it even easier for developers to tailor their pricing in 60 countries.
As noted by Phandroid, the Play Store update also introduces some minor UI tweaks. This includes the removal of the coloured bar on music, movies, and book listings, and the addition of a new UI for the permissions screen which condenses everything to icons and short descriptions.
What do you think about all these updates to the Play Store? What is your preferred payment method? Let us know in the comments.
