Synchronica to Acquire Nokia's Operator Branded Messaging Business

Synchronica plc will acquire Nokia's Operator Branded Messaging (OBM) business, which provides white-label mobile Email and Instant Messaging (IM) services across a wide range of devices to operators in North America.


The deal includes assignment of mobile operator contracts as well as source code of the related Nokia Messaging client and server software. Synchronica and Nokia will enter into a long-term relationship in which Synchronica will provide the messaging software which Nokia will continue to preload on Nokia Series 40 phones. Synchronica will assume responsibility for development, maintenance and support of the Nokia Messaging software shipping with millions of Nokia devices and the gateway functionality for both Series 40 and Symbian devices. Approximately 250 employees, externals and contractors are planned to transfer from Nokia to Synchronica.


Synchronica said the acquisition will provide it with a successful and complementary mobile messaging business and a strong foothold in the strategically important North American operator market. Combined with more than 80 existing carrier contracts in Europe, Latin America, Africa, Russia and Asia, Synchronica aims to become the global leader in next-generation mobile messaging. With Nokia's assignment of ten operator contracts in North America, Synchronica's total addressable market across all operator customers worldwide will extend to 1.8 billion end-users. Financial terms were not disclosed.


Nokia's Operator Branded Messaging technology enables mobile operators to affordably deliver an operator-branded email experience on mobile devices via an easy to-use interface. MSN Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL, Google mail/Gmail and multiple other portal/ISP email services are all supported via a single client on a mobile device. Similarly to email, multiple IM accounts, such as GoogleTalk, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, AOL and others are accessible via the IM clients.
http://www.synchronica.com