migg33 welcome to the community

by **jester** Tue Jan 01, 2008 6:43 am

Mig 33: Welcome to the Community

Debuting in December 2005 as the world's first global
mobile Internet community, mig 33 last September finally
turned its attention to the U.S.
Mig33 is an operator-agnostic global community that
makes most popular Internet applications accessible on
any mobile phone. This means that users can take
advantage of low-cost VoIP calls, SMS and IM
communications tools, as well as participate in mobile chat
rooms, profiles and photo sharing, all directly from their
mobile phone.

The company was founded on the belief that the rise of
VoIP and wireless technologies are redefining the way
people connect and find community. Mig33 takes
advantage of the shift in the telecommunications industry
from managing and tariffing the network to delivering
customer services and value.
"For most of the world, the mobile phone is already the
primary device for connecting to the Internet, and this
trend is growing in the U.S." says Steve Goh, CEO and
co-founder of Burlingame, Calif.-based mig33. He notes
that Mig33's mobile platform lets anyone get online from
just about anywhere and immediately begin
communicating and sharing with the Mig33 community.
"With a potential five billion worldwide residents still
waiting to access the Internet, we expect to be a primary
window to the Web," Goh says.

The idea for mig33 began in a library coffee shop meeting
between co-founders Goh and Mei Lin Ng. The duo sat
down with a blank piece of paper and a goal to figure out a
way for teens to send text messages as often as they
wanted without breaking the bank. Ideas brewed in that
meeting led to a business proposal and, eventually, to the
creation of mig33. Today, mig33 has customers in over
200 countries, with more than six million people sending
20 million messages and sharing thousands of photos
every day.

In May, mig33 announced a Series A funding round of $10
million co-led by Accel Partners (Palo Alto, Calif.) and
Redpoint Ventures (Menlo Park, Calif.), with an additional
substantial contribution from Technology Venture Partners
(Pyrmont, New South Wales, Australia) to expand its
mobile phone-based global communications service.
Although mig33 is already highly successful in the
international market, it remains to be seen if U.S. mobile
device users will warm to the concept. Complicating the
situation is the fact that Internet giants Yahoo! and Google
are developing their own mobility community offerings. Yet
mig33 continues to innovate and expand. Before year's
end, the company plans to offer mobile phone content and
expand its footprint of phones to include Palm Treo and
RIM Blackberry devices.