How did Zong evolve from a business idea to the global mobile payments company that it is today?
David Marcus: Zong has been around for almost nine years, under Echovox. We began by helping media companies monetize their TV audience through mobile entertainment applications. To do that, we built connectivity to about 100 mobile carriers. Two years ago, we realized that leveraging that infrastructure to build a mobile payments product for gaming and social networking was a smart thing to do. It took a over two years to build the payment layer on top of our infrastructure, and we launched Zong in its current incarnation in September 2008. What value does Zong bring to the Facebook Platform economy? Zong offers a seamless payment system. It removes the friction associated with traditional payment methods like credit cards with service that’s easier and faster. If you’re in a virtual world and want to buy a collar for your virtual pet with a credit card, you would go to your purse, get your credit card out of your wallet, and type in your credit card number, expiration date, and billi
