Microsoft teams with MACH for Windows Phone 7 app billing

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) will incorporate hub-based mobile communications solutions provider MACH's Direct Billing Gateway service to enable Windows Phone 7 smartphone users worldwide to purchase premium applications and content in one click, charging the transaction to their monthly wireless carrier bill. According to MACH, the Direct Billing Gateway supports both conventional downloads and in-app purchases--the solution integrates directly with operator billing systems, delivering real-time authentication and authorization to minimize revenue loss or abandoned transactions. Microsoft and MACH previously teamed on messaging services.

Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace now boasts more than 6,000 applications optimized for Windows Phone 7 smartphones, with roughly 100 new apps entering the storefront every 24 hours, according to the software giant's CEO Steve Ballmer. Speaking earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show event in Las Vegas, Ballmer said that over 22,000 mobile developers have now registered to market their apps via Windows Phone Marketplace; he added that more than half of WP7 device owners are downloading new apps at a rate of one per day, with nine out of ten Windows Phone customers on AT&T (NYSE:T) stating they would recommend the handset to a friend. Microsoft has so far launched nine Windows Phone 7 smartphones across 60 operator networks in 30 countries.

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