Mobile Marketing Magazine

IMImobile Eyes WIN Acquisition

WIN plc is in discussions with IMImobile which may lead to a recommended cash offer by IMI for the company at a proposed price of 141p per WIN ordinary share.
IMI already owns 250,000 WIN ordinary shares through a wholly-owned subsidiary, representing approximately 2.37% of WIN’s issued share capital. IMI has now procured an irrevocable undertaking from AXA IM UK in respect of its holding of 1,955,000 WIN ordinary shares (representing approximately 18.56% of WIN’s issued ordinary share capital) to accept an offer by IMI for WIN, should it be made, at 141p per WIN ordinary shares.
The AXA Irrevocable will cease to be binding in the event that an offer is not announced before 30 June 2010 or a third party makes a higher offer for the company (provided that the value of the consideration represents an improvement of at least 5 per cent in the value of the consideration under the Potential Offer).
WIN adds that the Potential Offer is at an early stage and is subject to a number of pre-condition, and that there can be no certainty that the Potential Offer will be made, even if due diligence is completed satisfactorily.

HP Buys Palm for $1.2bn

HP is buying Palm for approximately $1.2 billion (£785 million) or $5.70 per share of Palm common stock. 
HP says the combination of its global scale and financial strength, and Palm’s webOS platform, will enhance its ability to participate more aggressively in the Smartphone and connected mobile device markets.  It adds that webOS will allow HP to take advantage of features such as true multitasking and always up-to-date information sharing across applications.
“Palm’s innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices,” says Todd Bradley, Executive Vice President, Personal Systems Group, HP. “And, Palm possesses significant IP assets and has a highly skilled team. The Smartphone market is large, profitable and rapidly growing, and companies that can provide an integrated device and experience command a higher share. Advances in mobility are offering significant opportunities, and HP intends to be a leader in this market.”
Palm’s current chairman and CEO, Jon Rubinstein, is expected to remain with the company

Colibria Offloads IMPS Business to Synchronica

Colibria has completed the sale of its Open Mobile Alliance Instant Messaging and Presence Service (OMA IMPS) business to Synchronica plc. Colibria says the divestment will allow it to increase investment in core areas of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) application servers.
Colibria has seen increasing growth in SIP convergence products over the last 18 months, having won a further three new customers in Q1 2010, in addition to the six new customers announced in Q4 2009, Colibria’s portfolio consists of a SIP Instant Messaging Server; SIP Presence Server; XDMS Servers; and a Social Network Gateway and Internet Instant Messaging Gateway - integrating and interfacing messaging and presence with existing services like Windows Live Messenger and Facebook Chat.
“Colibria's move to focus on the convergence market appears well timed, with the IMS equipment market seeing increasing momentum worldwide, with sales in 2009 up 142% over 2008 and expected to reach $1.44 billion (£950 million) by 2014,” says Diane Myers, Directing Analyst at Infonetics Research. “We have seen particular growth in Rich Communication Suite, LTE trials, enhanced mobile IM, and presence services - all areas that Colibria are embedded in as a leading independent vendor.”

E-Dialog Snaps Up M3 Mobile Marketing

Email marketing firm e-Dialog is expanding its mobile marketing capabilities with the acquisition of US-based M3 Mobile Marketing. M3 creates and executes full-service mobile marketing programs for global enterprises, while e-Dialog provides e-mail marketing services and solutions with parent company GSI Commerce’s Marketing Services Division.
“The mobile arena holds so much promise and many marketers are excited but simply don’t know where to start,” says e-Dialog President and CEO, John Rizzi. “Nearly all mobile users are carrying a text-enabled phone right now. To ignore that reach would be missing a tremendous opportunity. The passionate team at M3 has already navigated the early challenges of this channel and has built award-winning solutions from which marketers new to mobile can immediately benefit. Our clients can now devise and implement marketing programs that let them create a meaningful customer experience on mobile devices.”
M3’s proprietary platform, COREtxt, was developed for both full-service and self-service applications. It has the ability to segment by any attribute that is stored in the client’s custom mobile database. Since all of COREtxt features operate in real-time, broadcast segments will reflect the most up-to-date mobile activity. The platform incorporates live reporting features, enabling targeting via gender, age, geography, customer preference and other segmentations.
The company also builds data exchange services to import data into COREtxt. Data can also be exported into the client’s CRM system via batch feeds, or, where immediate action is required, a web service API.
“e-Dialog is a company that has been helping organizations effectively connect with consumers through e-mail for years,” says ME Predient and Co-founder, Gary Ackerman. “Our companies share the same core values as it relates to intelligent marketing, and we look forward to empowering e-Dialog’s expansion into mobile. The multichannel marketing vision this represents will truly pay dividends to clients and their consumers.”
M3 will operate as a subsidiary of e-Dialog. Its full team will remain intact and report to e-Dialog CEO, John Rizzi. Gridley & Company, a New York City-based boutique investment bank, provided e-Dialog and GSI with advisory services on the deal.

Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom Complete UK Merger

Without much fanfare, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom announced the successful completion of the UK merger transaction and the formation of the companies’ new Joint Venture last week.
Tom Alexander, former CEO of Orange UK, is the Chief Executive of the new Joint Venture, and Richard Moat, the former CEO of T-Mobile UK, is Chief Financial Officer and Deputy CEO. A Board of Directors has also been formed, on which Tom Alexander and Richard Moat will serve as Executive Directors. Tim Höttges, CFO of Deutsche Telekom, will lead the board as Non-executive Chairman for two years. After this time, the leadership will rotate to Gervais Pellissier, Deputy CEO and CFO of France Telecom, for two years.
Also joining the six-person Board as Non-executive directors are Philipp Humm, Chief Regional Officer Europe for Deutsche Telekom, and Olaf Swantee, Executive Vice President Europe at France Telecom.

Synchronica Buys Colibria's IM Business

Synchronica, whch provides next-generation mobile messaging services, has signed an agreement to acquire Colibria's IMPS (Instant Messaging and Presence Service) business, reseller agreements, and existing worldwide mobile operator customer base. Synchronica says the acquisition will accelerate its entry into the fast-growing mobile Instant Messaging (IM) sector and help the company to achieve its goal of becoming the leader in next-generation mobile messaging for emerging markets. The acquisition will enlarge Synchronica's footprint in emerging markets by adding key customer contracts in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Russia/CIS, as well as global reseller agreements.
Synchronica will continue to develop, market, and support Colibria's open standards-based IM technology as a stand-alone product. The software will also be integrated into Synchronica's Mobile Gateway messaging suite and will be pre-installed on the recently launched MessagePhone, a low-cost messaging-centric handset using Mobile Gateway.
"Mobile instant messaging and social networking are fast-growing sectors, in particular in emerging markets,” says Synchronica CEO, Carsten Brinkschulte. “Our acquisition of Colibria's instant messaging business will allow Synchronica to offer a range of next-generation messaging products to service providers, improving our competitive positioning and accelerating our commercial growth."

Nokia Buys Novarra

Nokia is to acquire Novarra, which provides a mobile browser and service platform. Nokia says it will use Novarra's platform to deliver enhanced Internet experiences on Nokia mobile devices. Novarra’s platform is deployed with a number of mobile operator and nternet services customers globally.
Nokia adds that it expects a new service offering utilizing the Novarra technology platform to be available later this year. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2010, and is subject to the customary closing conditions, including regulatory reviews. Following the acquisition, Novarra will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nokia.
"Connecting the next billion consumers to the Internet will happen primarily on mobile devices, and delivering an optimized Internet experience on our devices is core to our mission,” says Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President, Services at Nokia. “By driving innovation in all segments of our portfolio, we are building one of the largest consumer audiences for web services and content. Novarra's Internet services technology delivered on the world's most widely-used mobile platform, Nokia's Series 40, will help us achieve this."

Saatchis Buys Inside Mobile

Mobile marketing firm Inside Mobile has been bought by ad agency M&C Saatchi for an undisclosed sum. Inside Mobile will trade as M&C Saatchi Mobile. Its clients include Reebok International, Yahoo! Europe, AB-InBev-Becks and Sky. M&C Saatchi says the acquisition is in line with its approach of using its strong balance sheet to acquire businesses with outstanding management teams to develop new areas of business.
“The growth of mobile marketing will be dramatic over the next five years, and be central to many of our clients communication plans, says M&C Saatchi Worldwide CEO, Moray MacLennan. “The acquisition of Inside Mobile, and the launch of M&C Saatchi Mobile globally will strengthen our differentiation from the older networks.”
Inside Mobile was founded in 2006 by Dusan Hamlin and James Hilton, who retain a 40% interest n the firm. Hamlin says: “We are delighted that M&C Saatchi has recognised the importance of mobile as a communication channel.This partnership will provide us with the necessary components to make M&C Saatchi the number one destination for truly integrated marketing initiatives.”

Amdocs Snaps Up MX Telecom in $104m Deal

Amdocs, which provides customer experience systems, has acquired MX Telecom for $104 million (£69 miillion) in cash. MX Telecom is a mobile payments and messaging aggregator with operations in Europe, the US and Australia.
MX Telecom will become part of Amdocs’ OpenMarket business, which operates a mobile transaction hub. The acquisition accelerates OpenMarket’s plans for global expansion into key markets. The joint OpenMarket MX Telecom business will provide a hosted platform to extend mobile payment and messaging capabilities through an integrated network and product portfolio. 
“This strategic acquisition expands OpenMarket’s global footprint and substantially increases our market leadership in the rapidly growing mobile payments market that will extend well beyond messaging in the coming years,” says OpenMarket General Manager, Jay Emmet. “In addition, it strengthens our product portfolio with an extensive set of value-added services for merchants.”
MX Telecom Managing Director Alex Moir says he is delighted to be joining forces with OpenMarket. “OpenMarket’s mobile payments platform is highly synergistic with MX Telecom,” says Moir. “This acquisition will enable the combined organization to better serve our customers and accelerate our global growth plans. Our employees are proud of what MX Telecom has accomplished, and we look forward to continuing to shape the industry as part of the OpenMarket team.” 

Connect2Media Buys Sennari

Digital entertainment publisher Connect2Media has acquired US firm Sennari, which specialises in prize-incentivized games for mobile phones. The agreement, which includes all of Sennari’s games services and operational assets, provides Connect2Media with a US presence for the first time, allowing the company to better address the growing market requirement for a range of mobile entertainment services and applications. As part of the move, Sennari’s Founder and President Mike Cartabiano will head up Connect2Media’s operator-led distribution business in North America. The timing of the acquisition coincides with changes to Apple’s rules, which permit sweepstakes and contests as part of games on the App Store.
Prior to the acquisition, Connect2Media had only been present in the US market through third party distribution channels, having no direct representation with operators. While providing Connect2Media with a foundation on which to build its business with US operator customers, Sennari also brings its established PrizePlay platform and games to Connect2Media’s mobile entertainment offering, including the company’s mobile customer relationship management tools.
“As technology evolution continues, mobile gaming is becoming so much more than a one-time download experience,” says Connect2Media CEO, Eric Robson. “With social games and ‘Freemium’ and advertising driven models becoming a part of the mobile experience, we are committed to broadening choice for users everywhere. Our milestone partnership with Sennari gives us much more than access to the US market and we anticipate that the PrizePlay platform will be a crucial tool in developing new models based around advertising, community and rewards, delivering new ways to help our operator customers engage and retain users.”
Part of Sennari’s Prize Play offering is a suite of games offered on a Freemium model with in-game prizes to encourage repeat play. Currently deployed with Verizon Wireless in the US, it is designed to increase consumer loyalty and revenue potential by enabling all forms of consumer relationship building within mobile content applications. Features include in-game transactions that involve storing points, currencies, tokens, or coupons; pay-per-play or tournament style gaming models; in-game prizing; friend-based referral programs and SMS campaign promotion.

Federal Trade Commission Pries Into Google/AdMob deal

Google's proposed buy-out of AdMob may have hit its first serious hurdle, as the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) gears up for what looks like the beginning of an antitrust challenge to the deal, writes Martin Conway. It has emerged that the FTC has asked two of Google's competitors, both as yet unnamed, to submit sworn declarations to this effect, amid concerns that the AdMob acquisition could grant Google an unfair advantage over its rivals in the US.
Although the requests for declarations are being conducted privately, the Internet was awash with speculation this week, with some mobile sector commentators rumouring Apple to be one of the two companies cooperating with the FTC.
The FTC's proposed investigation will hardly come as a shock to many, least of all to Google. When the AdMob deal was announced in November 2009, Google's own blog somewhat presciently stated: "Closer scrutiny has been the consequence of our success [and], on that basis, we wouldn't be surprised if there were some regulatory review before the deal closes."
Both parties remain tight-lipped on the situation, although Google's mood appears fairly upbeat, with Google spokesperson Adam Kovacevich claiming to be "confident that [the FTC] will conclude that the rapidly growing mobile advertising space will remain highly competitive after this deal closes." Similarly, Russell Buckley, Vice President of Global Alliances at AdMob, tells Mobile Marketing: "This is nothing we didn't expect – we're just going through the normal approvals process."
The AdMob acquisition, valued at $750 million (£495 million), is Google's most significant foray into the mobile advertising sector to date, and represents the third largest purchase in its history, following its acquisition of DoubleClick in 2008 ($3.2 billion) and of YouTube in 2006 ($1.65 billion). Should the deal now be allowed to progress, it is estimated that Google and AdMob would jointly command a 21% share of the US mobile advertising market. AdMob's publisher network currently boasts  more than 15,000 mobile websites and applications for iPhone, Android and webOS.
The question now is whether the investigation will constitute a temporary setback or a major headache for the Internet search giant. Readers may recall that Google faced similar accusations of anti-competitive practice while concluding its acquisition of DoubleClick, although that deal was eventually cleared by both US and European legislators. However, the threat of an antitrust law suit, issued by the US Department of Justice, was enough to scupper the group's 2008 plans to forge an ads-search partnership with Yahoo.
Julien Theys, Analyst at research company Screen Digest, believes that the FTC's investigation is a "nice compliment" to Google's position in the market, while simultaneously being bound to "make Google's competitors very happy". Realistically, he opines, such scrutiny is just a "sign of the times". He tells Mobile Marketing: "Google's going through the same regulatory hassles that Microsoft has encountered for years. I'm not sure that this move will be a major setback, and I don't think it's likely that the deal will be stopped, as there are so many other big players in the US market. From the mobile end, it's very scattered in terms of marketplace, and there isn't yet one predominant force."
On the other hand, Greg Sterling, Founding Principal of research and consulting firm Sterling Market Intelligence, claims that while the intensified scrutiny does not necessarily equal a formal challenge to the deal, it is too uncertain to make a call either way, and that the investigation should be taken seriously. "I don't think it's a tempest in a teapot," he comments. "There are a number of industry watchers, privacy advocates and commentators who are genuinely concerned about Google's strength and power, and who would like to prevent anything that might enhance it further, even if this particular deal does not technically fall foul of the US antitrust rules."
However, like Theys, Sterling doesn't see a challenge to the deal as being in the mobile advertising industry's best interest. "Most of AdMob's immediate competitors have cheered the deal because they see it as validating and raising the profile of their businesses as well," he says. "They would all like to be bought like AdMob, and the Google deal has helped that possibility. The US, European and Asian mobile advertising markets will remain very competitive if the deal is approved, though it would make Google a formidable company in mobile."

Opera Buys AdMarvel

Opera Software has acquired mobile advertising firm AdMarvel. Opera says the  acquisition will enable it to expand its portfolio of products and services to include highly scalable ad monetization services for Opera-branded mobile products and services offered by mobile operators and content partners.
AdMarvel works with a broad set of constituents in the advertising ecosystem to improve the performance of mobile advertising. The company was founded in 2006. It strives to make mobile advertising an open ecosystem through better transparency of performance and simpler management of ad traffic to optimize revenue. AdMarvel’s suite of services is designed to put publishers, developers and mobile operators in control of performance, and enables ad networks, agencies and brands to deliver better results.
“In our fast-growing industry, mobile advertising represents an interesting long-term revenue opportunity,” says Opera CEO, Lars Boilesen. “Every month, nearly 50 million people access the web using Opera on their mobile phones and together with AdMarvel, we think we can play an important role in the evolution of mobile advertising.”

Another Take on the Amobee/RingRing Deal

Amobee are happy, RingRing Media are happy, but Christian Louca, UK Managing Director of  mobile marketing agency YOC has his own take on Amobee’s planned acquisition of RingRing. He says:
“At first glance this seems a strange acquisition. After all, Amobee are an ad-serving company and Ring Ring Media is ultimately a planning and buying agency for mobile. They do not have a media network and act more like an exchange. I question the value behind such an acquisition and what the strategy is. Maybe Amobee feel they will be better placed to be able to offer an advertising sales resource alongside their technology? No doubt Amobee will now position itself as full service, but in my opinion this would not be entirely true.
“Will RingRing just plan and buy media with Amobee partners or will they continue as they are? What  guarantees could Amobee give to its partners for advertising, if any? If RingRing were to prioritise Amobee partners, their focus will mainly be on placing advertisements on the network operator portals, yet the market spend has shifted from on portal to off portal. I’m sure that Amobee have good reasons behind the acquisition, but as I say, at first glance it doesn’t seem to be a natural choice – I’d love to hear more from them.”
What do you think of the deal? We put it to Louca that some of these issues were addressed in our interview with Amobee and RingRing this morning, but he says he still has concerns about the strategy being undertaken. He has since added one further comment, saying:
"RingRing Media’s exchange system conflicts with their role as a media planner and buyer. For Amobee, as an ad-serving company, to then acquire them is an even stranger contradiction as they’re essentially crossing industries. The parallel is the online world – you’d never see an ad-server also acting as a media buyer and planner."
Please use the Comment button below to share your thoughts with us.

RingRing Deal Based on "Perfect Synergy" says Amobee

As exits go, this must rank as one of the faster ones. Just a year and four months after we covered the launch of RingRing Media, the company has been sold to Amobee Media Systems for an undisclosed sum, though a figure around the $20 million (£12 million) mark has been rumoured. In an interview with Mobile Marketing Magazine this morning, Amobee CEO Zohar Levkovitz, said the company was impressed with RingRing from the first time it met them.
“We met for the first time in September 2009, and it was clear from that first meeting that the synergy between the two companies was almost perfect,” says Levkovitz. “So we checked them out further, and that was a very quick and effective process.”
This synergy comes from the fact that Amobee is a large vendor of mobile advertising inventory on behalf of mobile operators - it also counts Vodafone and Telefónica among its investors - while RingRing connects Amobee to the demand and the advertisers. The two companies say they now aim to create the world’s largest mobile advertising exchange, connecting publishers to advertisers through the mobile channel.
“Big media buys on mobile can be a nightmare,” says Levkovitz. “It’s an almost impossible mission sometimes, where you have to call Vodafone in one country, Orange in another, Telefónica in another, and then go out and find other publishers as well, and large media buyers just can’t do it. RingRing have taken the pain out of this process, and the joint company will have other solutions to make the buying experience even simpler.”
RingRing Media Co-founder Ben Tatton-Brown says everyone at the firm is over the moon with the deal.
“We’re ecstatic and excited, we feel like kids in a toy store,” he says. “We have grown very quickly in a short period of time. The business was founded in 2008, we were profitable after month 11, and we have never looked back, with revenues now in excess of $2 million per month.
“It’s a great deal for us, like two pieces of a jigsaw coming together because the two companies complement each other so well,” he continues. “We have the demand and the client relationships and the budgets and Amobee has the best ad-serving technology in the world. We have been busy building our ad exchange which has now reached 4 billion ads per month, and we now have a combined goal to create the world’s largest mobile ad exchange. In fact, with our 4 billion impressions a month and Amobee’s multiple billions we are already bigger than AdMob.”
But Tatton-Brown is keen to stress that going forward, it's business as usual for the company.
“We remain 100% committed to how we can benefit our clients, advertisers and publishers; we have their best interests at heart,” he says. “We will continue to buy inventory on other networks like AdMob, Quattro and Millennial. The deal does not change anything with regard to our day-to-day business.”

Amobee Buys RingRing

Amobee Media Systems is to acquire mobile media firm RingRing Media. Amobee says the acquisition brings it one step closer to fulfilling its long-term vision of creating the industry’s largest mobile advertising exchange, dedicated to connecting publishers, advertising agencies and brands to premium inventory in real-time, on a global scale. Amobee’s customers include some of the largest mobile operator networks, including Telefonica and Vodafone Group.
Based in London and co-founded by Ben Tatton-Brown and Harry Dewhirst, RingRing Media has quickly earned a healthy reputation as a mobile media specialist, representing some of the largest brands in the world and exchanging over 4 billion impressions per month.
The RingRing Exchange is the world’s first mobile advertising platform dedicated to connecting top tier mobile advertisers, media buying agencies and local and global ad networks with leading mobile publishers, operators and application developers to maximize yield for sellers and improve campaign performance and ROI.
“This acquisition solves an industry issue,” says Amobee CEO Zohar Levkovitz. By leveraging the RingRing Exchange, we are able to streamline the process and connect supply and demand using the best technology on the market. “In doing so, we will be able to reduce the friction associated with today’s mobile media buying and offer a more integrated mobile advertising experience to our customers.”
Amobee says the acquisition will make it easier for mobile advertisers and mobile publishers to co-exist, helping sellers monetize mobile display inventory and giving buyers advanced targeting tools to access to the broadest possible reach at the best possible price through one single buy.
“Amobee saw value in our people, technology and a deep understanding of the market,” says RingRing Co-founder Ben Tatton-Brown, who will remain as Managing Director of RingRing Media. “Amobee and RingRing Media make an excellent match, creating a gold-standard end-to-end mobile advertising solution that enables brands, advertising agencies and publishers to achieve the greatest return from mobile.”
The acquisition is subject to certain closing conditions and is expected to be completed in the first quarter.

Apple Buys Quattro Wireless

No official word yet from Apple, but it seems that Quattro Wireless is a little keener to share with the world the news that it has been acquired by the company. A statement on the mobile ad network’s website from Andy Miller, Vice President, Mobile Advertising, Apple (that was quick – Ed), reads:
“We are thrilled to let you know that Apple has acquired Quattro. We want to share with you our excitement about this news and what it means for our customers.
“We have built our business by enabling advertisers to reach the right consumers across the mobile web and in applications. We remain focused on delivering more engaging, relevant and useful ads to mobile devices, and improving the measurement and execution of digital campaigns. Together with Apple, we look forward to developing exciting new opportunities in the future that will benefit our customers.
“For now, the offerings and services you receive from Quattro Wireless will not change. We will continue to operate the Quattro Wireless network across all devices and platforms. Your client and support teams will remain the same, and you can continue to expect the world-class service we are proud to deliver to our customers.
We look forward to working with you during this exciting time.”
We’ll bring you more details as soon as we have them.

Critical Path Buys ShoZu

ShoZu has been bought by Critical Path, which provides messaging software and services, for an undisclosed sum. The company says the acquisition of ShoZu’s mobile social media services significantly advances its delivery of consumer-focused mobile and social networking solutions across the entire range of mobile platforms.
“The acquisition of ShoZu propels us forward in enriching our mobile and social networking solutions for our customers around the world”, says Critical Path CEO Mark Palomba. “Now, we can offer an unparalleled experience for people to connect and stay current on the most popular social networks using virtually any device, as well as extend their use of personal media and messaging activities.”
Critical Path provides white-labeled messaging and consumer applications platforms to service providers, focused primarily on mass-market devices. ShoZu adds award-winning mobile applications for sharing media and personal experiences across the most popular social networks, with native support for the leading Smartphone platforms. The  companies say that the combined set of capabilities provides consumers with a complete social networking and personal communications capability, ranging from the simplest mobile device to the most advanced.
ShoZu Chairman and CEO Chris J. Wade says the company is delighted to have found “the perfect home” for the ShoZu brand and service in Critical Path.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with the seamless fit of our combined technology and approach to serving the market, and the opportunity for our outstanding engineering team to continue to make important technical contributions to Critical Path going forward,” says Wade. “We strongly believe in the roadmap for our future together serving Critical Path’s traditional customers, as well as new users attracted by the power of our combined applications.  The acquisition of ShoZu by Critical Path really is a beneficial matchup for both companies, resulting in a powerful capability for elegantly sharing, communicating and collaborating on information that’s at the core of personal and business relationships.”

Apple to Buy Quattro?

Rumours are circulating that Apple is set to announce the acquisition of mobile ad network Quattro Wireless for $275 million (£172 million). Google pipped Apple to the acquisition of rival network AdMob late last year. If the reports are true, the purchase would signal Apple’s intention to grab a slice of the mobile advertising market. Quattro Wireless’ clients include P&G, Ford, NetFlix, Time Inc., Visa and Disney. We have asked Apple for the official line on the story, but nio response as yet.
Google, meanwhile, is set to unveil its first Smartphone, the Nexus One, at an Android press event later today. Made by HTC, which also made the first Android handset, the G1, the phone runs on Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon CPU from Qualcomm, and sports a 5 megapixel camera, proximity sensor and accelerometer, plus wi-fi.

Nuance Buys SpinVox

SpinVox has been bought by Nuance for $102.5 million, (£64 million). Nuance says that by integrating SpinVox’s carrier services with its speech recognition platform, it will further accelerate the growth of its voice-to-text business and scale to meet the needs of a growing, global customer base. Nuance says that as a result of the acquisition, it will expand its operations and accelerate growth in three key areas: service quality; global reach; and innovation.
“Around the world, the voice-to-text market has experienced tremendous growth over the last year, with a variety of innovative services being delivered by carriers and unified communications providers,” says John Pollard, Vice President, Nuance Voice-to-Text Services. “With SpinVox’s robust infrastructure, language support and operational experience, we will broaden the reach and capabilities of our platform.”

Aplix Buys Zeemote

Aplix Corporation, which specializes in deploying Java technology on mobile and consumer electronic devices, has acquired the assets of Zeemote in an all-cash transaction.
Zeemote, an award-winning manufacturer of wireless controller technology and products for mobile devices, will operate as a separate subsidiary of Aplix Corporation and will remain at its Chelmsford, Massachusetts base. Aplix has retained the services of a number of key Zeemote staff including Jim Adams and Rob Podoloff, who will continue with their roles as VP Business Development and CTO respectively.
Aplix Corporation embeds its JBlend (Java) platform on more than 110 million mobile devices each year. Zeemote’s software will be included in the JBlend offering to enable the Zeemote JS1 Controller and other Bluetooth-enabled peripherals to be offered globally.
Earlier this year Aplix signaled its intention to extend its JBlend offering by providing embedded content through a partnership with Asian games publisher G-Mode. The combination of dynamic content, TV-out connectivity and a Zeemote Bluetooth Controller device is viewed as a compelling differentiator for handset manufacturers and operators, especially in emerging markets.
“This deal makes a lot of sense for Aplix as it looks to broaden its offering through the JBlend platform,” says Nick Lane, Chief Analyst at research firm mobileSQUARED. “Zeemote’s IP for connecting mobile devices via Bluetooth would appear to offer tremendous scope and opportunity.”

Rummble Buys Total Hotspots

Rummble, the real-time social discovery service, has acquired the UK-based wi-fi community, Total Hotspots.
Total Hotspots Managing Director Alex Housley will join Rummble's founding team as VP Business, to help drive service development and key partnerships. Total Hotspots was created by Housley in 2004, while studying Business and Computing at City University, London.
Total Hotspots offers a wi-fi discovery application for the iPhone that tells users where the nearest paid and free hotspots are around the world, ans also provides personalised recommendations for those venues. Rummble and Total Hotspots partnered to launch an iPhone hotspot locator app in January 2009, utilising Rummble's mobile platform and a database of global wi-fi hotspots. To celebrate the acquisition, Total Hotspots is reducing the price of its iPhone app from £2.99 to £0.59 over Christmas.
“Alex has grown Total Hotspots from zero to profit and brings a multi-disciplined skillset to the Rummble,” says Rummble CEO, Andrew J Scott. “We've been working closely with him the last months and as Rummble grows, his energy will make a very significant contribution to Rummble going forward. You can expect to see some fantastic new wi-fi features and partnerships coming out of Rummble during 2010.”

ROK Buys Textic

ROK Entertainment Group has bought text-to-speech provider Textic for an undisclosed sum. The Textic service, originally designed to automatically convert typed words on websites into audible speech, will be developed for mobile phones and eBooks, and will be re-launched as ROK Talk.
“The acquisition of Textic represents an enormous opportunity on many levels, not least for the benefit of the blind or partially sighted, but also for the under-educated and illiterate, as well as the millions of people affected by dyslexia, worldwide,” says ROK Chairman and CEO, Jonathan Kendrick.
Kendrick adds that in the US, it is law for all Governmental and commercial websites to offer text-to-speech functionality under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and says that ROK is aware that similar obligations are expected to become law in the UK and across Europe in the near future.
There are approximately 350,000 people who are registered as being blind or partially sighted in the UK, most of whom are partially or entirely excluded from the socio-economic benefits of the internet as a direct result of the lack of text-to-speech software on most websites. In addition, there are an estimated 1 million people in the UK who suffer from dyslexia or similar reading disabilities along with an estimated 5% of the entire global adult population.
Textic, founded in 2007 and based in Maidenhead, UK, has specialised in the development of advanced, assistive and creative text-to-speech technologies, which, in its various forms, converts web text to clear, human-like speech in a range of voices and languages.
Early adopters of the text-to-speech service in the UK have included County Councils, police forces in Northamptonshire, Kent, Sussex, Wiltshire and Staffordshire, the NHS authority in Great Yarmouth and Sheffield, Investors in People, the Gloucester Housing Association and the Down’s Syndrome Association.

Google Buys AdMob for $750m

Google is buying mobile ad network AdMob for $750 million (£448 million). AdMob says it is extremely excited about the new partnership and what it means for its publishers. In a statement to publishers, Admob Founder Omar Hamoui says:
“AdMob’s people, products and tools will continue to work to effectively monetize mobile traffic – no interruptions.  Our product and engineering teams will keep building great products for our customers. Our sales team will keep working with our thousands of advertisers to deliver successful campaigns.
“After our deal closes, AdMob will work with Google to accelerate the pace of innovation in mobile and do an even better job for you.”
Hamoui concludes by saying that he believes the deal will benefit the company's developer and publisher partners by:

• Building even more powerful technology and tools to monetize mobile traffic.
• Increasing the effectiveness of display advertising on mobile devices by leveraging Google sales team, infrastructure and relationships.
• Improving the already high level of service and support the company delivers to its publishers.

T-Mobile and Orange Merger Agreement Signed

Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom have today signed the final agreement to combine their UK operations, T-Mobile and Orange, into a 50:50 joint venture company, following completion of due diligence. The binding agreement confirms the terms of the transaction announced on 8 September 2009.
Completion is conditional upon approval by the relevant authorities and remains expected in the first half of 2010 as previously indicated. The agreement is subject to the approval of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Telekom and the Board of Directors of France Telecom.
Timotheus Höttges, CFO of Deutsche Telekom, says the joint venture is based on the full commitment of Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom to a long term partnership.
“I am very pleased to say that the spirit of this partnership is reflected in the way we conducted and concluded our talks,” says Höttges. “Our joint venture, which has now passed a major milestone, will set new standards in the UK mobile sector.”
Gervais Pellissier, Deputy CEO of France Telecom in charge of Group Finance & Information Systems, says he wants stress the excellent cooperation between the teams of Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom, which enabled the two companies to deliver on the timing and process objectives which they set out in September.
“This is an important step towards our objective of establishing an excellent platform to deliver operational synergies and offer innovative and high quality services to our customers,” says Pellissier.

Adeye Buys Storyz

Adeye, which describes itself as a “social mobile media house that offers complete social and mobile strategies for agencies, brands and advertisers” has bought Storyz, the entertainment and marketing service that lets friends tell multimedia-rich stories online and while mobile, for an undisclosed sum.  
Storyz challenges users to take part in branded entertainment contests that offer rewards for distribution and creativity. From celebrity look-a-like competitions with photos taken on mobile phones, to personal anecdotes about life experiences involving travel or lifestyle brands, these multilayered conversations created through the Storyz platform weave through social media channels as users invite others to join.
Storyz recently won the Handango Champion Award for ‘Best Social/Messaging App’ on Android, and will become part of Adeye’s offering across the mobile and social media arenas. Storyz will be offered as a white label solution for media organizations that want to enable mobile-to-web interaction, enabling them to build a ‘user-generated news’-type service to engage with users.
The Storyz service will immediately be available to all Adeye clients including the advertisers, brands and agencies already working with the company for mobile and social media campaigns.
Adeye will maintain the Storyz offices in Australia for business development and sales, and will move research and development to its headquarters in London. The company is also planning to open new offices in New York and San Francisco soon.
“Storyz is fun, social, impossible to ignore, and a perfect fit for our existing suite of offerings,” says Adeye CEO, Tommy Jensen. “The team at Storyz has developed a world-class social messaging platform that is delivered across web, mobile, and existing social networks. We are delighted to be making this strategic acquisition that will give our clients even greater choices in their mobile strategies.”

Ipercast Buys 3G Factory

Ipercast, which specializes in multimedia content management and delivery for the web and mobile devices, has acquired the technology and production assets of 3G Factory, which deploys and operates 3G mobile multimedia services. 3G Factory is a leading provider of video calling services in France, and has an extensive catalogue of applications
Ipercast says the acquisition will strengthen its capability in the mobile content delivery market. The whole 3G Factory team, including the company’s two founders, Dante Tota and Thierry Barnier, will work under the Ipercast umbrella. In the short-term, their main task will be to integrate Ipercast’s mobile streaming offer and 3G Factory’s 3G video telephony offer into a single multimedia platform that will cater for the full mobile multimedia spectrum: 3G mobile streaming, 3G video telephony and Web 2.0 services.
With this new platform, Ipercast says it aims to carve out a strong strategic position in the mobile video market, positioning itself as the best facilitating agent to accompany media operations, publishers, mobile marketing agencies and mobile Internet/messaging companies as they deploy their 3G video applications in Europe.
In a separate move, Ipercast has opened a UK office, headed up byMarina Sirotkin in the role of  UK Country Manager. The move follows the installation of a network Point of Presence (PoP) in England during 2007, which has been connected to Ipercast’s global fibre optic network to provide its customers with a more efficient delivery service for the past two years.
Ipercast delivers its services through its own CDN (Content Delivery Network), with a 6,000-mile fibre optic core backbone and several thousand servers located across Europe, the US, Canada and Asia.

ROK Buys Player One

ROK Entertainment Group has bought mobile gaming company Player One for an undisclosed sum.
Player One, established in 1999, has carved out a valuable niche in the mobile gaming market through the creation and exploitation of its IP, and in early 2006, the company launched Player One Sports, with the aim of bringing the best sport action and entertainment to mobile phones.
Player One's reputation has been built on securing the rights to high profile, internationally recognised sports personalities and brands, such as Freddie Flintoff’s Powerplay Cricket, Ronnie O’Sullivan’s Snooker, Jensen Button’s Grand Prix Racing, Frankie Dettori’s Horse Racing, and Ernie Els’s Golf, amongst others, and delivering them as mobile games.
Within the last 12 months the company has launched over 20 mobile games.
“Mobile gaming is proving to be evermore popular worldwide, so we are delighted to add Player One to our portfolio of revenue-generating mobile products, and we look forward very much to the successful deployment of their existing library of world-class mobile games as well as developing new games, going forward,” says ROK CEO, Jonathan Kendrick.
In addition to its mobile games, Player One Sports has enhanced its content offering through the development and distribution of sports-branded wallpapers, ringtones, video clips and uniquely, the live streaming of key sports events.
Player One’s games are compatible with most mobile Operating Systems, including the iPhone. Freddie Flintoff’s Powerplay Cricket will launch on Nintendo DS later this year and a range of Sony PSP mini games will be available in early 2010. 

Myriad Group Buys Xumii

Myriad Group, whose software, including browsers, messaging, Java, user interfaces and middleware, is installed in over 2 billion phones, has acquired the brand, technology and 17 employees of privately-held Xumii, a provider of mobile social networking services based in San Mateo, California and Sydney, Australia. Myriad says the transaction is not expected to have a material impact to its revenue or EBITDA for the full fiscal 2009.
“Xumii was the first software developer to combine social networks and instant messaging into a seamless mobile experience,” says Myriad CEO, Simon Wilkinson. “We are delighted that this talented team has joined Myriad.”
Myriad notes that over the past year, social networking has emerged as the key application driving consumer adoption of mobile data services. Facebook is leading the way, already reporting 65 million mobile users per month, up from 20 million just eight months ago. Research firm eMarketer forecasts that there will be more than 800 million mobile users of social networks by 2012.
Using  loud computing architecture, Xumii integrates a mobile user’s phone contacts, social networks and instant messaging services into a single ‘social phonebook’. Mobile users can then simultaneously access Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, AIM, Windows Live and other popular Internet services, sending messages, updating status and sharing photos and videos.
The Xumii technology is ideal for mass-market mobile phones, which do not have sufficient processing power, battery life and memory for advanced, always-on data services. Xumii overcomes these shortfalls by moving the bulk of the processing and data storage to its servers - the ‘cloud’.

Merger Will Face Hurdles, says Analysys Mason

Orange and T-Mobile will need to overcome a number of regulatory hurdles before they can proceed with their proposed merger. That’s the view of the analyst, Analysys Mason, which says that even if competition authorities approve the deal, they may attach some stringent requirements, such as obliging the operators to help to provide rural broadband coverage.
Analysys Mason flags up a number of significant points concerning the deal, namely:

• Network sharing. T-Mobile has an established network-sharing arrangement with 3 UK, through its 50:50 joint venture Mobile Broadband Network Limited (MBNL). In future, in the interests of minimising costs in a mature market, European MNOs will be involved in an intricate web of network-sharing deals.
• Vendor consolidation. As Ericsson is the main supplier of network infrastructure to O2, Vodafone and MBNL, this merger makes it the substantial leader in the UK market.
• Operating synergies. Orange and T-Mobile claim that they will save £445 million annually in operating costs by 2014, having invested £600 - 800 million between 2010–2014 to achieve this. It is often difficult to find the operating savings when merging such well-established operating businesses. It is hard to combine back offices and Orange and T-Mobile correctly acknowledge that it will take a few years.
• Spectrum. The licensing of 2 x 70MHz of spectrum in the 2.6GHz band is imminent in the UK. The reduction in the number of viable bidders from five to four means that the operators are more likely to gain more spectrum at a lower price. The merger of these two 1800MHz operators also has potential implications for 900MHz refarming, and there is also the question of whether the two might exceed their spectrum allocation, and how this might be treated by the regulator. Unfortunately, the merger process is likely to delay any agreement on refarming, rather than expedite it, although it will make an agreement simpler to negotiate.
• Virgin Mobile. T-Mobile hosts the Virgin Mobile MVNO, which accounts for 5 million of its 17 million subscribers. Any change in the ownership of T-Mobile could have implications for the relationship with Virgin, depending on Virgin’s attitude to its new host.
• Fixed–mobile convergence. T-Mobile and 3 UK were the only two UK mobile network operators that did not provide fixed-line services. Even the major MVNOs are able to provide fixed–mobile bundles and Virgin, in particular, has been aggressive in bundling mobile services with its cable offer. Although the business case for fixed-mobile convergence of voice is questionable, the boom in mobile broadband – and the associated network loading – makes it important for mobile network operators to offload traffic from mobile to fixed networks wherever possible. The ability to offer a full suite of fixed and mobile services is not essential, but it does reflect the fact that broadband provision will increasingly require both a fixed and a mobile element for most subscribers.
• Implications for the other UK operators. If the competition authorities permit the merger, it is unlikely that either Vodafone or O2 will be allowed to merge with another major player. However, that would not prevent either party from bidding for 3 UK. Further consolidation along those lines is probable as the UK mobile network operators battle for scale.
• Implications for other markets. The UK is one of the most competitive markets in Europe, so it is unsurprising that there has been consolidation. There has been consolidation in other highly competitive European markets in recent years, including the move from five network operators to four in Austria ,and from five to three in the Netherlands. In both cases, T-Mobile and Orange were involved in the consolidation process, so the experience is not a novelty for either group. According to the Herfindahl-Hirschman index of competition, few other markets are as competitive as that of the UK, so a rash of consolidation is not expected in other major markets.

Orange and T-Mobile Confirm Merger Plans

Orange and T-Mobile have confirmed that they are planning to merge their UK operations. The two companies have just outlined their vision for the merged company in a conference call hosted by France Telecom Chief Financial Officer Gervais Pellissier, Deutsche Telekom CFO Timotheus Höttges, Tom Alexander, CEO of Orange UK and Richard Moat, CEO of T-Mobile UK. If the merger is approved, the combined network will become the UK’s largest, with 28.4 million customers, representing 37% of the UK market.
The companies expect the deal to be completed in the first half of 2010. Up until then, the two brands will continue to operate independently. Once the deal is completed, there will be an 18-month transition phase, during which the two brands will co-exist, while the shareholders decide on the future branding strategy.
The companies say that they will cut costs by streamlining administration, rationalizing the retail network and combining network infrastructure. The combined network will have 20% fewer base stations, and 35% fewer sites. They also predict a 30% reduction in marketing costs. They concede that some job losses are inevitable.
Current Orange CEO Tom Alexander will become the CEO of the merged company, while T-Mobile CEO Richard Moat will take the role of Chief Operating Officer.
“Our ambition is to be number one in network quality of service, number one in efficiencies and economies of scale, and number one for sales and service on the high street,” says Alexander. “Most importantly, we want to become number one for customer service, reducing churn by striving to give customers the best customer experience.”

Orange and T-Mobile in Merger Talks

There have been a number of reports this morning that Orange and T-Mobile are in talks to merge their mobile phone network operations in the UK. If approved, the deal would create the UK’s largest mobile network, with around one third of the market.
We are currently holding on the line for a conference call, arranged by the two companies, that was due to start at 08.30 UK time (five minutes ago). So far, it’s just muzak, but once it gets underway, we’ll let you know what’s happening.

David Murphy
Editor
 

Acquisition Update

There were a couple of significant acquisitions in the mobile advertising space towards the end of last week. Mobile ad network AdMob announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of AdWhirl, which provides a mobile advertising mediation solution. Commenting on the acquisition, AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui said that by offering this first ever open source ad mediation solution, it’s goal was to provide a “much needed open, unbiased and transparent tool for mobile publishers who would like to build financially rewarding businesses that are fuelled by advertising.”
AdMob says it will expand on AdWhirl’s mediation product to create enhanced developer tools that will be offered as an open source mobile ad mediation solution. This, it says, will provide a transparent and unbiased solution for developers to allocate their inventory among multiple mobile ad networks and maximise the fill rates and revenue potential of their applications.
AdMob says it expects to make these offerings available in the coming weeks. In the interim, publishers will be able to continue utilising AdWhirl’s tools just as they have done previously.
AdMob was not the only company on the acquitision trail. Also last week, the Orange France Telecom Group bought 100% of Unanimis, which describes itself as “the UK’s largest exclusive digital advertising network”. Through the combination of Unanimis’s ad  network and Orange’s mobile and web assets, advertisers, buyers and media agencies will be able to reach over 71.5% of the UK’s online population and over 66% of the online population across UK, France, Spain and Poland.
Unanimis has exclusive online advertising relationships with brands such as the AA, Ticketmaster, ASOS, Gumtree and Shopping.com. The company will continue to operate under its brand name and will become part of the Orange Group Advertising Network, which offers advertisers and publishers an opportunity to reach new audiences by leveraging Orange’s multi-screen assets across the PC, mobile and TV platforms.
“As 2008 marked the revolution in the mobile internet space, so 2009 will see the major advances in digital and mobile advertising,” says Orange UK Chief Development Officer, Gerry McQuade. “The Orange mobile portal, Orange World, and our fixed portal, attract over 12 million monthly users, and with the advances in handset technology, coupled with new prices plans, this is set to rise even further. More companies are increasingly turning to the mobile Internet to enhance the way they advertise. A key part of our strategy at Orange UK is to grow and evolve our business in order to offer advertisers richer opportunities to engage with people. Combining the marketing opportunities offered through our mobile and web portal with the impressive inventory and sales expertise of Unanimis will give us huge strength and allow us to help advertisers reach audiences in new and exciting ways."

2ergo Buys ActiveMedia

2ergo Group plc, the AIM-listed provider of mobile enabling technology, has expanded its global reach with the acquisition of ActiveMedia Technologies and its wholly-owned Indian subsidiary ActiveMedia Technologies Private (together ‘AMT’) – which provides mobile ticketing and couponing solutions. The purchase follows the successful recruitment of AMT to 2ergo’s Business Partner Programme, announced on 26 January this year.
The acquisition gives 2ergo access to the world’s fastest growing mobile phone markets, particularly in India, where AMT is currently one of the leading providers of mobile value added services and solutions, deploying mobile coupons, vouchers, ticketing and loyalty programmes.
According to the analyst, Research & Markets, there are 453 million mobile subscribers in India today, approximately six times the size of the UK market, and subscriber numbers are increasing by over 11 million per month. 2ergo says the Indian mobile market holds vast potential, with 10% of subscribers opting for Internet-enabled mobile devices in a technology leap straight to mobile data.
AMT employs over 50 people and has operations in London, New Delhi, and Mumbai. Its technology platform is integrated into the majority of India’s major mobile phone operators, including Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Reliance and Tata. Clients include British Airways, Blockbuster, Proctor & Gamble and ABN AMRO. In the UK, AMT also provides the technology behind the ‘Orange Wednesdays’ campaign.
“This is a significant deal for both 2ergo and AMT, as we can offer each other real competitive advantages,” says Barry Sharples, Joint CEO of 2ergo Group. “We have been looking to invest in one of the BRIC regions for some time, and this deal in one of the world’s fastest growing economies, provides a platform for further investment and growth for 2ergo in Asia, which, not surprisingly, includes some of the fastest growing mobile phone markets in the world.
In its most recent results, AMT had sales of £1,190,000 and made a profit before tax of £229,000. The AMT balance sheet had estimated net assets of £550,000 at completion. 2ergo will pay initial cash consideration of £179,000, with the balance of the consideration, calculated as 4 times Indian profit after tax and 2.8 times UK operating profit for the year to 31 August 2012, which will be payable between November 2009 and November 2013, dependent on AMT achieving agreed levels of financial performance and subject to an overall consideration cap. Consideration will be settled, at the discretion of 2ergo, by the issue of new 2ergo ordinary shares, or loan notes, to the vendors.

IMIMobile Buys Mobytec

IMImobile, hich provides converged mobile and online technology platforms and managed services, has announced the acquisition of Mobytec, whose technology platform powers the award-winning Mobyko social aggregation service. As a result of the deal, Mobytec will be offered by IMImobile as a revenue-generating, fully managed, white label service for mobile network operators. Mobyko will continue as an independent company offering mobyko.com branded services.
Mobytec empowers the phone book for digital social lives. Users can synchronise and store social media content such as contacts, photos, texts and videos, from their mobile phones, in a single, secure online hub, and share rich media content with friends across online and mobile ecosystems. The platform integrates with social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter; aggregating live feeds, synchronising events, downloading profile photos to the contact address book, and displaying the latest Tweets from friends. 
For operators, Mobytec is a carrier-grade, fully managed service, and a ‘sticky’ interface between online and mobile activities in the expanding consumer social aggregation sector. By positioning the mobile address book as the natural hub for consumers’ online and mobile activities, says IMImobile, Mobytec presents a compelling revenue-generation and customer retention proposition.
“We believe that social aggregation tools are going to play an increasingly important role in the operator/consumer relationship,” says IMImobile CEO and Founder, Vishwanath Alluri. “Applications that add value to the customer and provide operators with a converged service, bridging the gap between online social networks and the mobile phone, are vital. Mobytec’s proven ability to deliver a world class user experience, combined with IMImobile’s robust and scalable back-end infrastructure, provides a powerful proposition within the market.”
The acquisition represents another step in IMImobile’s growth plans, following the acquisition of dx3 technologies, the M2Y platform from Nokia Siemens Networks, and the recent launch of IMEXmobile in the UK.

Aepona Buys Valista

Aepona, a global provider of telecoms software products and services headquartered in Belfast, Northern Ireland, has announced the acquisition of Valista, a Dublin, Ireland-based provider of payment, settlement and service lifecycle management solutions to mobile and broadband operators worldwide. The acquisition creates an independent vendor, operating under the Aepona brand, with a complete solution for the ‘Network as a Service’ (NaaS) business model that Aepona says now being embraced by Telcos globally.
With the NaaS model, mobile and broadband operators treat their network and informational assets as marketable resources that can be made available to third party application developers, upstream service providers and enterprises. These organizations can then enhance their applications, services and business processes with telco capabilities such as voice, location, messaging, profile, billing and so on.
The new Aepona offers telcos an end-to-end solution for the NaaS model, including Open APIs towards core network capabilities; third party relationship management; monetization;billing mediation and settlement; and service lifecycle management. Following the acquisition, Aepona’s client list now includes some of the world’s largest mobile and broadband operators in North America, EMEA and Asia. 
 “For some time now, operators have recognized the need to adopt a more collaborative approach to working with organizations such as enterprises and web-based service providers”, says Aepona CEO, Al Snyder. “The rise in ‘Over-the-Top’ services has made them realize that in order to compete effectively, they need to leverage their assets to the fullest extent possible, and this means opening up these assets towards third parties in a secure, controlled and billable manner.”
Snyder notes that while Aepona has secured several contracts with Tier 1 operators to implement their Open Network API programs, the company has, until now, lacked the monetization and settlement capabilities that are required for a true NaaS offering.
“With the acquisition of Valista, we can now offer telcos the means to monetize their Open API initiatives, as well as offering third parties a convenient way to bill end-users for their services,” he says.
Valista CEO Kevin McGrath describes the acquisition as: “a major step forward in the evolution of Valista’s business. The combination with Aepona creates significant benefits for the customers of both companies, providing them with a more complete solution from a single, independent entity that has the operational scale to serve our large operator customers at a global level,” he says. 

Voda's T-Mobile Bid Could Succeed, says Law Firm

A report in this morning’s FT suggested that Vodafone was weighing up a bid for T-Mobile after T-Mobile UK’s owner, Deutsche Telekom, appointed JPMorgan to advise on the strategic options for the business.
The report in the FT notes that any bid runs the risk of being blocked by the regulators, since the firm created would have create a 40% market share. But Mark Hodac, a Partner at technology and corporate law firm, White & Black Legal believes the mobile phone industry, which has not been immune to the economic downturn, may well welcome the news, on the basis that a reduction in the number of players in the market could allow the remaining operators to achieve healthier margins. Hodac adds that there are precedents for one company enjoying such a dominant position. He says:
“Whilst consumer groups will be concerned, it is by no means certain that regulators (in particular the European Commission) will block the deal, as circumstances already exist in other EU member states (Italy, France and Spain) where one mobile operator holds at least a 40% market share.
“Furthermore, our experience shows that network coverage is as, if not more, important to customers than pricing, and T-Mobile’s customers may welcome the increased capacity for infrastructure expenditure that Vodafone (as the world’s largest mobile phone operator) could offer.”
More news on the deal as we have it.

IGT Restructures

IGT-UK Group is restructuring its mobile and Internet gaming operations following its acquisition of Million-2-1 and the subsequent integration of the UK division of WagerWorks.
As a result of the restructure, the UK division of WagerWorks will take responsibility for the sale and distribution of Barcrest Group game content in remote gaming markets, including interactive TV, mobile gaming and Internet gaming markets; and IGT game content in mobile gaming markets, developed utilising the Million-2-1 mobile gaming platform.      
WagerWorks’ game development strategy has been to supply a mixture of well-known consumer brands coupled with Internet versions of popular IGT brands, such as ‘Cleopatra’. WagerWorks will now also leverage online versions of successful game titles from Barcrest Group, offering streams of game content in interactive digital television, mobile gaming and Internet gaming markets.
Million-2-1 will continue to focus on interactive services for media organisations and land-based retailers, using mobile solutions to deliver new revenue streams. This includes prize competitions, mobile marketing campaigns and lotteries for the UK and international markets.
The company has also announced the appointment of Simon Murphy as Head of Business Development for WagerWorks. Murphy joins WagerWorks from Million-2-1 and will be responsible for developing commercial relationships with key clients across mobile gaming and Internet gaming products.
“This restructure streamlines our current sales and distribution process and enables us to offer an integrated remote gaming solution to our partners through one business relationship,” says IGT-UK Vice President, Robert White. “It is also consistent with our game development strategy of offering great game content across multiple channels, including mobile and Internet. By developing new branded content and continuing to access the best games from land-based environments, I am confident we can further strengthen our games portfolio and our position as a leading content supplier.”

Telecom Express and IMIMobile Launch IMEXmobile

Telecom Express, which provides interactive services to UK media companies, and IMImobile, the mobile technology platform and services company, have announced the launch of IMEXmobile. The joint venture company has been set-up to provide major media groups with an end-to-end solution for the implementation of interactive mobile services.
IMEXmobile unites Telecom Express’s 20 year track record in the delivery of interactive services to media clients with IMImobile’s proven service delivery platform. Telecom Express currently provides services to many of the UK’s leading media companies including News International, the BBC and Telegraph Media Group, while IMImobile provides mobile technology platforms and services to network operators and media companies such as Vodafone, Airtel, Virgin Mobile, Yahoo and Reuters in 40 countries around the world.
The companies say that IMEXmobile removes the need for media owners to work with a host of small and disparate suppliers. The company provides a complete service that incorporates the expertise, relationships and technology necessary for successful campaign and product development, implementation and account management, with a single partner. IMEXmobile says it delivers the tools that enable its partners to significantly increase mobile revenues whilst reducing the cost of service management.
“IMEXmobile was created from the ground up to meet the demands and address the opportunities of our media partners,” says Telecom Express CEO, Damon Russell. “The established response mechanism will always have a place in consumer interaction, but mobile offers huge opportunities if it’s imaginatively and efficiently exploited.”
IMImobile CEO, Vishwanath Alluri, adds:
“Businesses which effectively embrace mobile are able to create truly personal relationships with the end user and benefit from the associated revenue such a relationship can bring.”

Mediaburst Buys Promptext

Mobile marketing firm Mediaburst has announced the acquisition of the UK operations of Promptext, which delivers SMS messaging services. Mediaburst says the deal will enable it to consolidate messaging volumes and to provide Promptext customers with an enlarged product range.
“Promptext customers now have access to an enlarged product range and to first class customer services and technical support,” says Mediaburst Managing Director, Gary Bury. “This acquisition represents a significant development for Mediaburst and demonstrates our ability to simply plug-in additional customers and consolidate mobile messaging volumes.”
For the financial year 2008/09, Mediaburst reported operating profits double those of the previous year, generated from brands such as Kellogg's, Bostik and Nurofen introducing mobile marketing campaigns into their digital strategies, and from an increasing numbers of businesses using text messaging to communicate with their customers and staff.

2ergo Buys Wapfly

2ergo has acquired Australian mobile marketing firm Wapfly Technologies for an undisclosed sum, as part of a move to extend its global reach into the Asia-Pacific region. Wapfly specialises in developing mobile Internet sites, mobile applications and mobile marketing services for brands, broadcasters and agencies, and has developed close links with mobile network operators and full service agencies in Australia. 
As a result of the acquisition, the Group provides media giant ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) with its mobile Internet solution, which was developed by Wapfly. In its first week, the ABC Apple iPhone application was downloaded by more iPhone customers than any other and was ranked the number one iPhone application in Australia in just three days. News on the site is refreshed constantly and content varies by region through the deployment of location-based services. TV and radio shows are broadcast to the mobile with internal advertising featured on the site. 
“This is a significant deal for both businesses as we can offer each other real competitive advantages,” says 2ergo Joint CEO, Neale Graham. “We have been looking to invest in the region for some time and this deal provides a platform for further investment and the growth of 2ergo in Asia Pacific. Wapfly brings with it a dedicated mobile applications team which compliments 2ergo’s portfolio of mobile-enabling technology. Its high-end mobile publishing and content software is compatible with our core enabling technology platform, Multiserve, which means that we can quickly launch new, world-class products across the Group.”
2ergo provides the enabling technology behind major mobile marketing, customer relationship management and entertainment and media campaigns for some of the world’s biggest brands including, Yahoo, O2, Microsoft, Fox News and AT&T.

Velti Buys Ad Infuse

Mobile marketing firm Velti has acquired Ad Infuse, which specialises in personalised mobile advertising. Velti says the acquisition will enable the company to strengthen its position in the US market and sustain its growth over the coming years. Velti will immediately integrate Ad Infuse’s management team, award-winning technology and prestigious customer base into its global operations. Ad Infuse CEO Brian Cowley will assume the position of General Manager of Velti North America,
Ad Infuse’ s mobile ad serving and routing technology platforms enable advertisers, publishers, brands, and operators to place mobile ads on multiple networks and manage them in real-time. Ad Infuse works with leading advertisers, publishers, and operators in the US and Europe.
The integrated company will comprise over 400 people across its operations in the US, Europe, China, India and Middle East. Velti says it is already the world’s largest mobile advertising and marketing company,y with operations in 35 countries, and some of the world’s leading advertising and media agencies, brands, operators and publishers as its customers, including Microsoft, Disney, Unilever, Orange and MasterCard.
“The acquisition of Ad Infuse will broaden our US team and enhance our global product offering,” says Velti CEO,Alex Moukas. “Mobile advertising and marketing continues to enjoy significant growth even in today’s environment: the marketing landscape is changing and mobile is the catalyst for this…This transaction provides us with a proven management team,a strong client base, and proven technology that will help us further accelerate our global growth.”
The integration of Ad Infuse’s personalisation and ad routing/serving technology within Velti’s Mobile Marketing Platform (MMP) will provide ad agencies with an end-to-end solution for mobile media planning, campaign management, optimisation, execution, analytics and hosting of mobile advertising and marketing campaigns.
Velti says this new offering addresses a key problem that advertising agencies currently face of having to communicate with multiple suppliers to run an integrated campaign. Additionally, Velti’s enhanced platform will provide a single point for  media planning across quality mobile inventory providers; tracking across any media channel that converts to mobile (including TV, print and outdoor); post-response interactivity, with over 90 proven scenarios; and creative media utilisation, including rich content, such as mobile Internet sites, applications, games and video.
Velti recently announced 2008 revenues of  $70 million, with an EBITDA of $17 million. It says that revenues in the first quarter of 2009 are expected to be more than 50% higher than Q1 2008.

Oxygen8 in Caribbean Acquisition

Interactive communications company Oxygen8 Communications is continuing its global expansion across English-speaking territories with the acquisition of Caribbean Multimedia Services (CMS). CMS has connectivity throughout the Caribbean region and has contracts with many of the key media groups in this market.
As a result of the acquisition, Oxygen8 Communications now operates in 36 markets worldwide and is directly connected in 33 countries. It says it now has unprecedented access to the English speaking world (the English Caribbean alone adding 7.5 million people) and an increasing penetration of the Hispanic market.
The company provides services to some of the world’s leading companies, portals, national broadcasters, national and regional publishers, international carriers, network operators and independent telecommunication companies. It has offices in the UK, Ireland, Australia, the US, South Africa, and East Africa.
At the heart of Oxygen8’s offering is its Oxygen platform, which enables UK brands with to create fully integrated interactive communications services utilising a variety of different technologies, including WAP, web, voice, video, SMS and MMS. The platform was designed to meet the requirements of customers who need to be able to roll out new services quickly and easily, both locally and internationally. Self-provisioning is at the core of the design of the platform, which means that brands have the option to develop and maintain services themselves. It also enables new applications to be rolled out in “minutes”.
“Oxygen8 is looking to quickly expand its business worldwide, and our acquisition of CMS is an important part of this process,” says Oxygen8 Communications Group CEO, Shane Leahy. “Increasingly, our clients are international in their focus, especially our major customers operating via the web. It also means that we are able to offer penetration in many markets that no other aggregator has access to, in fast developing regions such as Africa and the Caribbean. The acquisition also further strengthens our international management team.”     

VISTO Completes Good Acquisition

Push mobility solutions provider VISTO has completed the acquisition of Good Technology from Motorola. Going forward, the combined companies will operate together under the name Good Technology.
VISTO says its acquisition of Good Technology from Motorola is the catalyst to create a powerful new integrated mobility solutions company with strong enterprise, government and consumer offerings. 
VISTO’s patented underlying technology provides an open, real-time synchronization platform for a broad range of applications, including collaboration and social networking solutions. The addition of Good’s platform expands the breadth of the combined company’s portfolio, offering the whole spectrum of device-independent solutions to operators, handset manufacturers, large, medium and small enterprises, governments and consumers.
“We have doubled our market penetration and are the clear alternative to closed, vendor-biased solutions from Microsoft and RIM,” says CEO Brian A. Bogosian. “We now provide one global, open and secure platform that gives Government, IT (sic) and consumers complete freedom of choice around handsets and OS in a fragmented mobile device market. This strategic initiative places the new Good at the forefront of this rapidly expanding market, with access to any messaging, collaboration software, media, enterprise application or consumer content.”
The combined company will have a significantly extended global reach. With the benefit of Good’s strong relationships with US operators, and extensive base of enterprise customers, including a high concentration of the Fortune 50, the new Good Technology will serve leading operators and enterprise customers throughout the US and in more than 100 different countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

VISTO Makes Good Acquisition

VISTO, which provides a mobile push and synchronization platform for service providers, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Good Technology from Motorola, VISTO says the acquisition immediately positions the company as a global leader in the delivery of a full range of secure, mobile messaging solutions for enterprises through mobile operators and OEM handset manufacturers. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The parties intend to close the transaction by the end of February.
“This transaction marks another important milestone in VISTO’s emergence as a worldwide leader for mobile access to applications and content, especially messaging and collaboration data,” says VISTO CEO, Brian A. Bogosian. “Good’s robust enterprise and government solution will complement VISTO’s strong operator presence in business and consumer markets. As a result of this transaction, VISTO will now provide customers in over 100 countries an open, robust and secure mobile experience for enterprise customers, on over 400 different mobile devices.”
Good Technology specializes in offering wireless messaging, mobile VPN data access, device management and handheld security for enterprise customers worldwide. The addition of Good’s extensive service offerings in the US, Europe and Asia will enable VISTO to provide its government and enterprise customers with the benefits of a broader range of solutions and best-in-class secure mobile offerings.
VISTO has extensive relationships with mobile operators throughout Europe, North America, and Asia. Good, through its relationships with US mobile carriers, has implementations with thousands of enterprises, including many of the Fortune 500 with a high concentration of the Fortune 50.
“We believe that this transaction is in the best interest of our customers, employees and shareholders,” says Gene Delaney, President, Enterprise Mobility Solutions at  Motorola. “VISTO’s acquisition of Good will allow Motorola to continue to concentrate on providing best-in-class business-critical applications, secure management platforms and mobility services that empower the individual with the right information at the right time to streamline business processes and improve results.”

IMI Buys dx3

IMI, the India-headquartered global provider of mobile value added services (VAS) for content providers, mobile operators and media agencies, has announced its acquisition of dx3, the London-based digital content delivery services provider which pioneered the first legal digital music downloads in Europe, for an undiscllosed sum. The acquisition is effective immediately.
Already established in over 40 countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, IMI says its acquisition of dx3 is the first step in an aggressive European expansion plan designed to establish the company as one of the largest managed service providers for digital content and converged VAS in the region.
The acquisition will combine IMI’s experience in the mobile sector, where it already enables 80 operator deployments globally to drive profitable new revenue streams, with dx3’s expertise in the web domain. dx3 has relationships with all of the world’s major music labels, and a library of over two million music tracks. It provides marketing solutions to major brands and creative agencies, including members of WPP and OMD. The arrangement will bring the combined services of the enlarged group under the IMI brand and see its carrier-grade DaVinci platform used as part of a managed service offering to power the mobile and online digital marketing initiatives of major brands, publishers and retailers across Europe.
“We see two key growth areas emerging,” says IMI CEO and founder, Vishwanath Alluri. “Firstly, converged media campaigns that use both mobile and online platforms. Secondly, off-deck, direct to consumer mobile and fixed-line operator promotions, working with big name brands to offer innovative offers and marketing inducements to their subscriber base. We are well positioned to exploit this growth with our innovative technology platforms and considerable experience in driving new revenue streams for our global customers.”
Anu Shah, formerly Executive Director of dx3 and now CEO of IMI Europe, says the  acquisition gives the company fantastic access to a converged online and mobile platform that can glue together growing areas of the market, such as digital music, social networking, advertising, user-generated content and subscription services.
“dx3 and IMI believe offering these products under a managed service model offers the best risk/return profile for our clients as evidenced by our growth over the last year,” says Shah. “Together, we are now in a great position to design and deploy compelling new products and services on a pan-European basis.”

Voda Makes Russian Move With MTS Deal

Vodafone and Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS, have announce a strategic, non-equity partnership to provide customers with communications services and to collaborate jointly on future technological developments.
Under the agreement, MTS will have exclusive access to a range of products, services and devices from Vodafone for its markets of operation in Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Armenia. In addition, MTS will be able to draw on Vodafone’s expertise in building and developing 3G networks and mobile broadband products, working with leading global equipment providers.
The partnership with MTS will give Vodafone valuable insight into the opportunities of the important telecommunications markets of Russia and the CIS, which are among the fastest growing in the world. Vodafone’s products will be made available to MTS’s 87 million subscribers, including more than 60 million customers in Russia.
Vodafone's products and services will be marketed in Russia and the CIS under a co-branded approach. Vodafone will also open a representative office in Moscow to co-operate more closely with MTS on future offerings and customer services.
“A partnership with Vodafone will allow MTS to bring tangible benefits to both its customers and shareholders,” says MTS President and CEO, Mikhail Shamolin. “This groundbreaking agreement will give our customers the most innovative products and services from around the world.  At the same time, Vodafone’s commercial insights and technical expertise will translate into significant operational efficiencies for MTS over the long-term as we transition our networks to 3G and beyond.”
Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao says:
“Our agreement with MTS is an opportunity for Vodafone to build its presence and work with the leading operator in these important markets. By combining the geographical reach of the company’s respective networks, we can give customers greater roaming capabilities and extended coverage. We are delighted that MTS has joined our successful Partner Markets community, which will be much stronger with the addition of Russia and the CIS.” 

Nuance Completes SNAPin Acquisition

Speech solutions provider Nuance Communications has closed the acquisition of SNAPin Software, which provides on-device self-service software for mobile operators.
The SNAPin software solution mobile allows operators to interact with their subscribers in real-time and in the context of current mobile behavior. The company says its handset-based SelfService product suite enables the delivery of interactive promotions, the resolution of most customer support problems, and allows operators to deliver a branded service experience to their subscribers.
“The combined capabilities of Nuance and SNAPin broaden the market opportunities for mobile care worldwide,” says Robert Lewis, a Vice President in Nuance Mobile Care and former CEO and President of SNAPin. “With Nuance’s global reach, extensive expertise and worldwide carrier and customer relationships, we have an opportunity to truly redefine the customer self-service market.”

Connect2Media Acquires RayFusion

Connect2Media, the recently formed multi-platform entertainment company, has acquired RayFusion, a global distributor of mobile content. The deal will enable RayFusion to facilitate expansion of its distribution network to include major carrier accounts in the EMEA, Asian and Latin American regions.
Israel-based RayFusion will continue to operate as a standalone entity with operational independence from Connect2Media. It will retain its name and corporate identity and there will be no changes to its personnel or operations. However Connect2Media’s support will enable RayFusion to refine the development of its mobile content technology set, which the company says will create a real point of differentiation for RayFusion content suppliers and raise the bar on service levels and transparency.
“Connect2Media is an exciting forward looking company and we are enthusiastic about what we can achieve together,” says RayFusion CEO, Doron Kagan. “Connect2Media has excellent relationships with major carriers around the world which will allow us to broaden our already significant distribution network and cement our position as a leading distributor of mobile games.”
Connect2Media publishes, develops and distributes games and services across multiple platforms including mobile, web and interactive TV. In August 2008, Connect2Media received investment from Acuity Capital and from Hands-On Mobile, which injected the majority of its EMEA assets into the company. These assets include a global distribution footprint that includes EMEA, Latin America and SE Asia. Connect2Media continues to work with Hands-On Mobile as the exclusive publisher of mobile games such as ‘World Poker Tour 2’, ‘Guitar Hero III’ and ‘Marvel’.

Medio in AdMob Tie-up

Mobile search company Medio Systems has announced a partnership with mobile ad network AdMob. As part of the agreement, AdMob will deliver targeted mobile search ads to consumers, using Medio's analytics-driven mobile search service. Medio says it is partnering with AdMob to ensure consumers see high quality ads, and to make it easier for advertisers to reach consumers on their mobile phones.
“AdMob's unmatched quality advertising traffic means we can present the industry's most targeted and relevant ads to both our operator partners and publisher network, while enabling AdMob's advertisers to reach consumers in that 'last mile' with analytics-driven, targeted search ads,” says Medio CEO, Brian Lent.

Synchronica Acquires AxisMobile

Synchronica, which provides mobile email and synchronization solutions, is acquiring consumer mobile email specialist AxisMobile for $4.9 million (£2.6 million) in new Synchronica shares. Synchronica has also raised additional funds of $10million, from new and existing institutional investors, which brings the total funding secured in 2008 to $18 million. The company says the additional funds will be used to accelerate product integration and fuel the growth of the combined business in emerging markets such as China, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
The AxisMobile acquisition aims to make Synchronica the leading player in mass market mobile email and synchronization middleware for mobile operators and service providers. The addition of AxisMobile’s complementary technology, customer base and routes to market, combined with the injection of $10 million of additional funds, will enable Synchronica to provide mass-market mobile email solutions that work on more than three billion mobile phones in the market today.
AxisMobile’s consumer mobile email platform complements Synchronica’s award-winning Mobile Gateway software by adding ‘email to SMS’ and ‘email to MMS’ gateways, as well as a client-less solution for WAP/xHTML browser access. AxisMobile’s patented Optimizer email transcoding gateway also adds the ability to display a large variety of attachments such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint presentations on standard feature phone handsets that would otherwise be unable to support such functionality.
Synchronica says that the AxisMobile acquisition will also enlarge its footprint in emerging markets, by adding a strong sales force and key customer contracts in the relatively untapped areas of Eastern Europe, CIS and Russia, to Synchronica’s existing sales presence in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Currently AxisMobile has eight live customer installations with major mobile operators, predominantly in Central and Eastern Europe and China. Customers include  MTS, the largest mobile operator in Russia and CIS with 84 million customers; Megafon, a Russian mobile network operator with 34 million customers across 88 regions of the Russian federation, including its Moscow subsidiary Sonic Duo; T-Mobile; and E-Plus, Germany´s third largest mobile network operator with 13.6 million customers. AxisMobile has also secured contract wins with a leading Ukrainian mobile network operator, a further leading Tier 1 Russian mobile network operator, and a leading Swiss mobile network operator.
Forecasts point to emerging markets as a breakthrough area for mass-market mobile email. Informa predicts that there will be 4.81 billion mobile phone subscribers by 2012, with the next billion subscribers coming from emerging markets, where PC and fixed-line penetration is low.
“The fundraising and the acquisition of AxisMobile is a dramatic acceleration for Synchronica and I believe that it will build value for our shareholders,” says Synchronica CEO, Carsten Brinkschulte. “We aim to build a world leader in the market of consumer mobile email and synchronization solutions, and this acquisition is a key milestone that will improve our competitive positioning and accelerate our commercial growth. It will increase our ability to sell to customers, particularly to those in emerging economies, where we see the largest potential growth for mobile email and synchronization. With the fundraising and the acquisition of AxisMobile, Synchronica now has sufficient mass and funding to take advantage of the outstanding opportunity to exploit the commercial potential of mass-market mobile email.”
Synchronica’s Mobile Gateway delivers push email and mobile synchronization of calendar and contact data targeting consumer and business users with connectors to mass-market mailboxes such as Yahoo or Gmail as well as business mailboxes such as Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Domino. Mobile Gateway does not require users to install additional software on the handset or behind the firewall and instead uses the dominant open industry standards push IMAP and SyncML to synchronize the built-in email and PIM applications pre-installed on more than 1.5 billion handsets in the market. With the injection of AxisMobile technology, even the most basic phones will be able to send and receive email, further expanding the addressable market for Mobile Gateway in the consumer sector and in particular in emerging markets where low-end devices are dominating the market.