Opera Software has acquired California-based AdMarvel, Inc. in a move that helps Opera take another significant step forward in its ongoing endeavor to expand its portfolio of products and services. And as news of this announcement transverses the globe, it’s being further noted how the era of the ad network acquisition is in full swing. The AdMarvel deal, after all, follows a recent wave of high profile ad network acquisitions including Apple’s purchase of Quattro Wireless and Google’s acquisition of mobile display advertising firm AdMob.

As major technology companies continually realize the benefit of the services and expertise offered by firms specializing in mobile advertising, firms like AdMarvel could be in hot demand for acquisition as far as the eye can see across the mobile marketing landscape.

Founded in 2006, AdMarvel was “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. 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,” says Lars Boilesen, Chief Executive Officer of Opera Software.

Specific terms of the deal were not released. AdMarvel, however, has previously worked with Opera Software and engaged in a commercial relationship that quickly “blossomed into a wonderful partnership to serve the global mobile marketplace.”

Share This

Two leaders in the world of mobile analytics have joined forced today with the announcement of a merger between Pinch Media and Flurry.  The combined company, which will go forward under the Flurry name, will have a total of 20 employees and be better positioned to take on the future of mobile analytics.

Pinch Media and Flurry were two companies that shared a similar vision.  Flurry has been more focused on e-commerce, while Pinch Media focused on ad-optimization.  Both companies launched widely used analytics services for iPhone and Android devices, but have yet to become profitable doing so.

When combined, the companies plan to go beyond just providing data and become a full-on media company that offers services to developers- such as ways to mine data from users and target them with recommendations for mobile apps.  Flurry already has a head start with its recent launch of AppCircle, a recommendation platform developers can install within their apps which will analyze a user’s taste in apps.  Flurry gets paid through a revenue sharing agreement with the developer, and has high hopes for the concept.

Simon Khalef, chief executive of Flurry and soon-to-be CEO of the combined company, has stated he expects the companies to be able to offer a single combined service with the features of both Flurry and Pinch Media in the near future, but in the meantime, both companies will maintain their existing services.  The core idea is to combine the massive amount of mobile data both companies have access to, organize it and make it available to developers.

It’s a smart move and a smart time to combine and streamline two of the leading mobile analytics providers.  The newly formed company will be in a perfect position to take on mobile analytical data at the same time Android is making huge strides and the iPhone continues to drive use of mobile apps like never before.  It should be interesting to see how the new Flurry will operate, and how quickly it can turn profitable.

Share This

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that South Korean operator SK Telecom is moving forward with a $343 million proposal to acquire a minority stake (49%) in Hana Financial Group’s credit card unit. If finalized, the partnership could engender a host of new and combined products fusing together both banking and telecom services.

In recent months, SK Telecom, in fact, has been preparing for the forthcoming introduction of a “mobile credit card” that will allow subscribers to enact and complete transactions or similar purchases via a wireless device or through personal banking information. Evidently, the deal now on the table would focus on the ultimate goal of cultivating and promoting the “proliferation of mobile credit cards” and to develop futuristic, next-generation payment models and mechanisms. According to SK Telecom: “Through this partnership, we will tap into new areas, such as the telecom-finance convergence market, by maximizing the business synergies of both companies.”

Following seven months of negotiations, the proposed deal, which could be finalized shortly, will speak to the emerging convergence of telecom and finance, a fusion that could take mobile banking through wireless internet to new frontiers.

Share This

The Federal Trade Commission has set its sights set on Google.

According to the Wall Street Journal this week, the FTC is looking into Google’s proposed $750 million acquisition of mobile advertising network AdMob.

Although many expected the mega-deal to provoke at least some attention from the FTC it seems unlikely at this time that any steps or actions will be taken to preclude the acquisition from actually taking place.

No names affiliated with either Google or the FTC were directly sourced in the article to provide inside details. According to a representative for Google, the “investigation” is presented as routine protocol.

“We don’t see any regulatory concerns with this deal, but closer scrutiny has been one consequence of our success,” a the spokesperson told the WSJ. “On that basis, we wouldn’t be surprised if there were some regulatory review before the deal closes.”

As many will recall, this instance isn’t the first time Google has been investigated. In early 2009, the Department of Justice looked into Google’s proposed Book Search settlement with authors and publishers. The DOJ had publicly expressed concern that Google would become too powerful as a result of the deal and obtain “too much control” over out-of-print books.

But if Google can ultimately be cleared as it was to purchase display advertising company DoubleClick for $3 billion, the acquisition of AdMob should ultimately present very few hurdles.

Share This

After months of rumors and speculation, Comcast is officially taking over NBC Universal, effectively giving life to a media gargantuan that could potentially dominate broadcast and digital media like no other force presently in existence.

The $30 billion deal, however, will likely spark a regulatory battle born of the natural concern that too much “power” now lies with one company.

A critical component of the “power” alluded to is the enormous presence that Comcast and NBC will now have in the world of digital entertainment. With both NBC Universal and Comcast stepping up efforts over the last year to accelerate mobile content distribution, officials for Comcast have repeatedly expressed their desire to keep NBC and Universal entertainment reaching the biggest audience possible.

That’s a favorable sign of things to come for both mobile content distribution and the mobile marketing industry.

According to Steven Pearlstein at the Washington Post, “The logic of the Comcast-NBC merger is that by having a strong position in both content and distribution, it won’t matter how all this plays out. For both Comcast and NBC, vertical integration is a hedging strategy that will ensure each emerges from the current competitive chaos as a survivor, no matter where on the value chain the profits and power end up.”

Share This

With Google’s purchase of AdMob, it proves even further what many have already speculated for a while- that mobile advertising will be dominated by the major players for some time to come.

A few months ago, Jeff Lindsay of Bernstein Research released a report titled “The Long View: How Will The Wireless Internet Impact Online Advertising,” in which he expressed opinions on how he thinks the big players such as Google and Yahoo will take most of the mobile ad-spend over the next five years.  The reason for this, according to Bernstein, is the fact that most advertisers – when testing the mobile waters – will go to one of the major players with “legacy agency relationships” versus smaller, newer entities.

We already knew Google was serious about mobile advertising with mobile enhancements to both its AdSense and AdWords programs, the addition of mobile metrics to its Analytics solution and much more- but its acquisition of AdMob will introduce the search-giants immense reach into the realm of mobile app monetization as well- AdMob’s specialty.

Read the rest

Share This

It was announced today that AT&T has acquired Plusmo, a mobile application development platform and solutions company, that AT&T hopes can bolster its mobile apps business and simplify the process along the way.

Plusmo stands out from the rest in that it enables developers to create widgets and applications using common web development standards that allow for easy deployment across multiple mobile operating systems and devices.

It was a perfect fit for AT&T given the fact that Plusmo had already established successful relationships with leading carriers, handset manufacturers and big-name publishers.  Beyond that, Plusmo has created several popular sports-based widgets that collectively average more than 100 million monthly mobile page views.  It other words, they know what they’re doing.

AT&T has been getting serious in terms of mobile apps, likely because they represent a valuable revenue stream potential.  YPmobile, for example, which is the popular mobile derivative of its YELLOWPAGES.COM web property has seen huge success since its inception.  The addition of Plusmo will streamline the development process and add the ability to add over-the-air updates whenever new features are available.

Read the rest

Share This