Still on top but losing market share to Google and Apple, Finland-based handset maker Nokia will acquire a U.S. mobile-analytics company to study how consumers use its phones. The data from privately held Motally, which has only eight employees, may help attract developers and publishers for Qt, Symbian, MeeGo and Java applications that can enhance Nokia phones and make them more competitive.
The San Francisco, Calif., company, founded in 2008, has patents pending on technology that collects data and reports analytics for mobile sites. It currently specializes in Apple's iPhone and iPad, Research In Motion's BlackBerry, and Google's Android.
Financial terms of the agreement, which is expected to close in the third quarter, were not disclosed.
"The acquisition underpins Nokia's drive to deliver in-application and mobile web-browsing analytics to Ovi's growing, global ecosystem of developers and publishers, enabling partners to better connect with their customers and optimize and monetize their offering," said Marco Argenti, Nokia's vice president in charge of media, in an investor news release.
Ovi, Finnish for door, is Nokia's range of Internet services, including games, maps, media, messaging and music. Increasingly competing with Apple and Google as the gateway to the mobile Internet, Nokia is looking for new partners.
A study of global mobile-device sales in the second quarter by Gartner Research put Nokia on top with 34.2 percent, but down from 36.8 percent during the same period last year. At the same time, phones based on Google's Android operating system exploded and Apple saw a slight gain.
A key to the smartphone battle is having an inventory of apps, a field where Apple dominates with around 1.3 million offerings, and Google is in second place with about 83,000 available. The Ovi store has about 800 apps.
The Motally acquisition shows Nokia wants to study not just which apps are popular, but which...
Posted: 2010-08-20 11:57:08
