Zong is now the first mobile payments platform to offer a subscription service, which allows Zong customers to extend a recurring bill-to-mobile option of up to $9.99 a month to their membership base. This marks an extension of the company's existing pay-as-you-go feature which is featured on some of the largest and most popular social networking applications, virtual worlds and online games, reaching more than 1 billion mobile users worldwide.

"Our integration of Zong is in-line with our core philosophy that online gaming experiences, including the ability to easily choose from a variety of payment options, should be accessible to everyone," said Dan Porter, CEO, OMGPOP. "Deploying a proven mobile payment solution on a monthly subscription basis will make it easier for our users to sign up for membership, letting them get more out of OMGPOP, and building an exceptional model for additional revenue enhancement."

Photobucket, the premier standalone photo and video sharing site with 45 million unique monthly visitors, and OMGPOP, a real-time social gaming platform with more than a million daily game plays, are each extending Zong's Recurring Payment Service as a payment option to their users. Photobucket users interested in upgrading to the site's Pro service and OMGPOP users interested in upgrading to its Star Membership no longer have to enter up to 70 characters of identifying and financial information. Instead they can bill the membership fees to their mobile phone simply by entering their 10 digit mobile phone number online, receiving a four digit confirmation PIN by SMS text, then entering that PIN online to complete the purchase. The monthly membership fee then appears as a line item on the user's monthly mobile phone bill.

"Subscription-based payments bring a greater degree of dependability to an online merchant's revenue stream and are a natural next step in extending the Zong mobile payment platform," said David Marcus, founder and CEO, Zong. "Photobucket's and OMGPOP's use of Zong's Recurring Payment Service demonstrates the potential of mobile payment platforms to continue to gain popularity and use across a variety of consumer demographics and use cases."

Beginning today, the subscription service is available to all Zong customers looking to subscribe U.S.-based mobile users. In the coming months, Zong will expand its subscription service to customers in Europe, Canada and Australia. Consumers can easily cancel any subscription via SMS, a phone call or the merchant's website.