Using a Cellphone Number to Pay for Goods Online

Two online payment start-ups, Zong and Obopay announced this week that customers can now link their credit or debit card numbers to their cellphone numbers on Zong and Obopay’s Web sites. Bits Blog reports.

Then, when they are shopping for digital goods on certain Web sites, they simply need to enter their 10-digit phone number to buy something instead of being re-directed to a separate Web page and entering extensive credit card information.

... Eventually, they hope to have enough customers to convince merchants that people want to use their cellphone numbers to pay for real goods. Then, the idea goes, Zong or Obopay could be a payment option on e-commerce sites, just like using a credit card or PayPal is today.

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emily | 6:16 PM | SMS and Micro Payments |
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