Zong has officially announced the launch Zong+, calling it "the first online mobile payment platform combining carrier billing with credit, debit and prepaid cards. Now, in addition to making online purchases through their cell phone bill, Zong customers will also be able to link any type of payment card to their Zong account through a one-time entry process and continue to purchase goods by simply entering their mobile number and confirming the security transaction code sent to their phone." READ MORE

TechCrunch reports on the introduction of Zong+, an extension to its original model of billing small purchases to your cell phone account that adds the ability to make purchases from a payment card account linked to your mobile number by Zong.

Zong+ allows consumers to make larger transactions -over $9.99. Merchants/publishers will benefit from lower fees and more timely settlement on Zong+ transactions because the mobile operator isn't getting a piece of the transaction amounts. Consumers benefit from being able to use their existing payment cards and while earning rewards, etc.

Take a look at the Inside Facebook blog and the ads from its sponsors - including Zong, SuperRewards, Allpass, PaymentPin and OfferPal.

Also, notice the survey results discussed in this article - none of the major consumer credit card companies or issuers made the top 10!

Have you signed up to use virtual currency or pay for digital goods using your mobile phone?

New on PaymentsViews.com: Purchasing Facebook Credits with Zong Mobile Payments by Glenbrook's Erin McCune.

In an article titled "Investors Bet on Payments via Cellphone", Claire Cain Miller and Matt Richtel write for the New York Times about Obopay (and MasterCard's MoneySend launched last week with Obopay), Boku, Zong and PayPal.

[Editor's note: one facet of a couple of these services that the article's authors fail to note is the cost of payment acceptance - and how that cost varies from service to service. In some segments - such as virtual goods where merchants have a close to zero cost of goods sold - merchants can afford to pay a lot to gain widespread acceptance on cell phones. Other merchants, with real costs of goods sold, would find the costs of these approaches out of the question. There's a similar story when it comes to person-to-person money transfer. For domestic transfers in the US, there's a certain cost sensitivity. For international remittances involving currency conversion, on the other hand, there's a much greater opportunity to price for value. Need help understanding all of this? Drop us a note here!]

In an article on TechCrunch titled "Mobile Payments Getting Traction On Social Networks, But Fees Are Sky High", Michael Arrington takes a look at the SMS-based mobile payments companies Zong and Mobillcash. He writes: "Lots of merchants and application developers would love to take mobile payments, but paying 40% or more of the transaction to the carriers is a non-starter." READ MORE