mig33

Mobile Darwinism at work.

by alec on January 26, 2009

Is there a trend underway?  Mobile startups everywhere are looking beyond cheap voice calls as generous minute packages have niched these players into providing cheap international long distance and not much more.  Om Malik profiles several this morning, including the newly “rebooted” iSkoot.

The conditions are right for these companies.  As first Apple, then Google, RIM, and Nokia all announced new mobile applications “stores”, the shackles imposed by carriers on software developers have gradually loosened.  The iSkoots, Truphones and mig33’s of the world were formerly left to their own resources to gain distribution – cutting deals with carriers, or doing downloads over the air.  Neither option is all that profitable, nor easy for the customer. The environment is now changing.

Having weathered the downturn with large cash reserves, these folks are now starting to deliver real value added service on top of the infrastructure they originally built to provide cheap calls.  And with these fat cash reserves, they’re poised to capitalize on the economy as their less flush competitors experience the … ahem… downside of the “free” business model.  It’s downright Darwinian.

A trend? Definitely.

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mig33 targets the US with Blackberry

by alec on February 7, 2008

Most of mig33's 10 million users are from outside North America.  With their roots in south-east Asia, and their focus on mobile devices, mig33's subscriber base has come from youth in countries where the primary way to access the internet has been via mobile phone. 

Today they rolled out their first products that are specifically designed to target American users.  Their new Blackberry client makes it easy to share photos, connect with friends, make inexpensive international phone calls, and bring all of your IM accounts together in one place. 

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To get the mig33 Blackberry application, visit http://mig33.com/wim/blackberry.php.

It's no secret that mobile social networking usage is exploding.  Since May of last year, for example, mobile usage of Facebook has expanded dramatically.  In November, polls I conducted showed Facebook mobile usage at 27% of the install base, up from under 10% in May a year earlier.  Can mig33 grab a US foothold in this fast growing market?  Perhaps, but they'll need a solid constituency behind them.  As Facebook cultivated youth via college campuses, mig33 will have to find a core constituency that cares passionately about the services they deliver.  With their emphasis on inexpensive international calling, it doesn't seem as if they've hit the mark yet for US consumers.

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News bits: mig33, Jajah, and Tweetmeme

January 29, 2008

Several interesting stories worth following yesterday: mig33 announced a $13.5 million B round.  These folks are certainly on a roll, adding subscribers and raising money at a mad rate. Jajah joined the Microsoft Startup Accelerator program.   I guess we'll be seeing more integration with Jajah and Microsoft handsets. Perhaps the Jajah folks can also [...]

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mig33 goes prepaid

January 17, 2008

mig33 is one of those stories that we in North America don't follow that closely.  Now with over 69 million users, they are a rapidly growing mobile social network, with voice, IM and chatrooms as well.  It's a pretty full featured mobile community, but with it's South Asian and Australian roots, it flies under the [...]

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