PALO ALTO, Calif.—Social networking provider FriendFinder.com said it launched a new payment system that allows its members to be billed for the company’s services via their cellular carrier.
“We are turning on a (premium short message service) billing system that enables members to buy special services or upgrade to a premium membership without using a credit card or other payment system,” said Legendary Lars, vice president of marketing for Various Inc., parent company of FriendFinder.com, AdultFriendFinder.com and Passion.com. “Members can handle the entire transaction simply by entering their mobile-phone number in a box on our billing page.”
The system sends a billing confirmation message to the member’s mobile phone, and when the user replies to the confirmation alert, the cost of the requested service is charged to their carrier.
The new payment option was rolled out recently in the United Kingdom and will soon be available in the United States, Australia and several European countries, the company said.
The announcement is notable since most premium SMS transactions are for cell-phone content such as ringtones and wallpaper.
