How many times have you been online and wanted to buy something but didn't want to go through the time and trouble of finding your credit card and entering all the information in ... complete with the three numbers on the back of the card. Maybe you have become leery about using credit cards online. For whatever reason, someone in cyber space lost a potential customer.
What if you could simply enter your cell phone number, wait for a text with an authorizing PIN to insure that it's really you making the purchase, and then complete that puchase just by enter that PIN? You now can with a company called Zong.
You have been able to buy virtual things this way for a while now, but the charge would get added on to your cell phone bill. The downside to this has been that the carrier, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, etc... - would add a charge and and the time it took for the merchants to get their money was fairly long. This was not ideal for the seller or the buyer.
Zong, a company that operates a "mobile-to-carrier" payment service, has recently launched Zong+ which will allow you to link a credit, debit, or prepaid card to your Zong account. Online shopping becomes easier and interestingly more secure as each transaction is given a unique PIN.
It will be interesting to see if the mobile payment idea catches on. It certainly is convenient and would create more conversions for internet businesses, because it will be so much easier for consumers to buy on impulse!
