T-Mobile USA has announced Direct Carrier Billing, "a nationwide purchasing program to provide customers the convenience of securely purchasing digital content and services from their web-enabled device. With Direct Carrier Billing, T-Mobile customers can conveniently charge online purchases of digital games, gaming and social networking credits, music, videos and other digital content offerings directly to their existing T-Mobile account right from the Web browser of their connected device – whether a PC, smartphone, netbook or tablet."

T-Mobile Direct Carrier Billing is initially available via BilltoMobile, Boku, OpenMarket, Payfone, and Zong.

eBay announced today that it has agreed to acquire Zong for approximately $240 million in cash.

Zong leverages connections with more than 250 mobile network operators around the world, offering localized, secure and easy-to-use payments capabilities for digital goods and services in 21 languages and 45 countries. Combined with PayPal’s leading global payment platform serving 100 million active accounts worldwide, the company expects that Zong will add complementary technology and talent that help strengthen PayPal’s leadership position in mobile payments and digital goods.

Commentary from Scott Thompson (PayPal President), David Marcus (Zong CEO), and TechCrunch.

On the wires:

• Avangate Teams Up with PayNearMe to Help Software Vendors Reach Millions of US Shoppers
• InComm Helps K-VA-T Food Stores Expand Prepaid Offerings with New Line of Products
• VeriFone Enables Turkey’s First Pay-at-Pump Systems
• Woolworths Selects FIS for Prepaid Card Processing
• Bottomline Announces New E-Invoicing Service over SWIFT Network
• SK C&C USA Rebrands as CorFire

On the web:

• Wall Street Journal: Check Out the Future of Shopping
• RIS News: Nordstrom Deploys 6,000 Mobile POS Devices
• NetBanker: Zong - A Payments Company Name to Remember
• ETA: Sen. Durbin May Take On eCommerce Sites on Sales Tax
• FierceMobileContent: Isis calls on Apple, Google and Sprint to join mobile payments network

The Zong Payment Index (ZPI) is designed to track the bill-to-mobile spending patterns of Zong’s global user base, broken out by its top 40 markets.

The ZPI reflects three factors: (1) consumer’s willingness to use their mobile phone to buy digital goods online; (2) the consumer’s ability to use their mobile phone to make purchases as determined by mobile operator policies (e.g., spending limits, price points, etc); and (3) the cost of mobile payments as determined by mobile operators’ fees which sometimes result in consumer surcharging.

Zong has announced an expansion of its mobile payments platform to more application platforms and remote devices.

Previously available for HTML and on Android, developers can now integrate Zong’s simple mobile payments service in nearly any environment, including Flash, Unity, Interactive TV, gaming consoles, and the mobile web.

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• hyperWALLET Announces Payment Service Expansion to Russia
• Zong Offers Simple Monetization for Android Mobile App Developers
• Chase Provides Easy Access to Mobile Gift Cards with Launch of Chase GiftShelf App
• Oberthur Technologies Answering Card Issuers' Demands for EMV in the US
• Banks Lower Overdraft Fees 6% as Consumers Choose to Opt-In
• Thales enables Metro Bank to Bring In-Store Card Issuance to UK High Street
• New Aite Group on How Interchange Regulation Will Change the U.S. Payments Industry
• New PwC White Paper on UK Faster Payments Initiative

• SFGate: Websites Help Resell Unwanted Gift Cards

BilltoMobile (announcement), BOKU (announcemnet), and Zong (announcement) are all working with with AT&T to provide direct mobile billing payment services to AT&T’s wireless subscribers – enabling customers to charge digital content purchases made online directly to their existing wireless service account.

This is the second direct mobile billing agreement with a major carrier that BilltoMobile has announced this year - the company announced a similar integration with Verizon in March - and the first for BOKU and Zong.

Zong has announced what it calls "the first one-click mobile payment solution for Android" and has opened a private beta for Android developers to integrate this payment option into their applications. According to the company, "the new payment solution creates a seamless experience for users who can now make a purchase within an application with just one click; no registration or log-in is required. The Zong platform automatically verifies the user, bills their mobile phone account and returns them to their application or game without delay." READ MORE »

Zong has announced that it has completed a $15 million round of funding led by Matrix Partners. Formerly a division of Echovox, Zong is now a standalone company headquartered in Palo Alto and will use the investment to further market leadership by accelerating the growth of its merchant network in US and international markets and through funding the rapid expansion of its mobile carrier network.

Dana Stalder, general partner of Matrix, will join Zong’s board of directors. He has extensive knowledge in financial services and ecommerce, having served in executive positions at Netscape, eBay and PayPal. Stalder also initiated a number of other startup projects, including PayPal Mobile and the PayPal Developer Platform. READ MORE »

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 »