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| Industry | Telecommunications Mobile communications Payments |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2008; 17 years ago (2008) |
| Headquarters | Menlo Park, California, United States |
| Products | Electronic payments Mobile Payments |
| Owner | eBay |
Number of employees | 80 |
| Website | zong |
Zong was amobile payment company that allowed users to makemicropayments on theInternet if they have apostpaidmobile phone.[1] The payments were charged to their mobile phone bills by themobile operator. The company was acquired byeBay in 2011[2] and disappeared in 2015.[3]
Zong payments were only accepted byonline games andsocial networks, and the service can be used to purchasevirtual goods[[4]]. Zong was awarded the 2009 Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Award for New Product Innovation in the Mobile Payments category.[5] In May 2015, Zong disappeared from the web without any public declaration. The website now simply redirects toPayPal.
Zong appeared in 2008, as a new mobile payment solution in theUSA, an offshoot ofEchovox that allowed users to pay for items online directly through their mobile phone bills. This was made to boost the business development of this disruptive application.[6]
In 2011 the former CEO of mobile payments technology developer Zong,David Marcus sold Zong toPayPal as he become the new president there.[7]
In May 2015, Zong disappeared from the web without any public declaration.[8]
Zong focused onsocial networks andonline games. They were useful to people who did not have acredit card and those who wanted to make smallpurchases online. Zong allowed them to pay with their mobile terminal and the amount was then debited by the mobile operator.
The partnership of Zong with mobile operators allowed them to charge customers using short numbers. On March 12, 2009, Zong announced to stop short messaging services and target its mobile payment system. Zong published anapplication programming interface to allowdevelopers to sell and publish content to mobile customers worldwide.[9]
Zong vice president of product and marketing Hill Ferguson, "Android permits third-party payment services for developers to use in their apps. We recently launched an Android SDK for apps that let users make purchases without entering credit-card information, usernames, or passwords."
