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We read this somewhere, but can’t exactly remember the source, so excuse our paraphrasing. Some of the best companies were founded because someone had a problem, and the company’s goal was to solve it. Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders of Google, had trouble finding things on the Internet, so they started to figure out a better way to implement search. Steve Jobs and Paul Allen, founders of Apple, were looking for a relatively cheap and easy to use personal computer, so they developed one. Jing Liu, founder of MINO, was having difficulties communicating with business colleagues while he was overseas because international roaming is so expensive. So he developed a mobile VoIP service provider.

The service began as a universal fix. Subscribers would download software to their mobile phones, and then would use the phone’s data service to make calls, rather than the voice service. However, in time, Mr. Liu realized that the potential market for this service wasn’t in the general public, but rather corporations that used BlackBerries.

That means organizations can bring all BlackBerry users into one central pooling plan regardless of mobile carrier, for greater insight and cost control. With this new business plan under its belt, MINO was able to convince Canaan Partners to provide it with an additional $7 million in funding.

Also included is a tool that allows calls to be billed either to the company’s account or a personal account. This makes Liu’s service attractive to larger corporations whose devices are often used for personal reasons.

It sounds like a quality service. We really wonder, though, if this will integrate well with the 8820, which will have WiFi capabilities. If so, Mr. Liu might have hit a gold mine.

[New Telephony]

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