By Breaking news today as PocketGear has just acquired its former competitor Handango in the cross-platform app store. Pocketgear can now claim more software titles that will now make it comparable to Apple’s App Store in terms of number of applications and size. With PocketGear’s infrastructure from Samsung’s Touch Wiz widget store and Palm’s Software store coupled with Handango’s library of independent applications brings their collaborative total to more than 140,000 applications.
As we all know, just because there are shear numbers of applications does not make them all practical/useful since I’m sure they have their fair share of fart machine apps, etc. Not sure if there is room for another application market in the Android world, but with 140,000+ applications, it might be nice to have various options to choose from. Do you think this new third party application store will be good for Android? Check out the full press release:
PocketGear: Press Releases
Official press releases from PocketGear.com.
PocketGear Acquires Handango, Creating the World’s Largest Cross Platform, Open App Store
PocketGear’s App Store supports 2,000+ mobile devices and every major OS platform, connecting consumers in 175+ countries with 140,000+ paid and free titlesDurham, NC — February 23, 2010 — PocketGear, Inc. today announced the acquisition of Handango, the leading provider of smartphone applications globally, creating the world’s largest cross platform, open app store and content marketplace with a catalog of more than 140,000 paid and free titles that are available for discovery and download by the more than 4 billion consumers worldwide using Android©, Symbian OS©, BlackBerry©, Windows Mobile©, Palm©, Linux, and Java© powered mobile devices. PocketGear and Handango are the two largest independent app stores and combined to date have generated over $400 million in mobile application revenues from customers living in more than 175 countries and using over 2,000 unique mobile devices.
With the acquisition, PocketGear’s mobile app marketplace has been expanded to connect more than 32,000 developers in the PocketGear Developer Program with over 40 PocketGear-powered storefront and distribution partners, including 4 of the world’s top 5 handset manufacturers, 4 of the top 5 mobile operators in the US, 3 of the top 10 mobile operators globally, and leading media and ecommerce companies including Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Research in Motion, Microsoft, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon Wireless. The reach of PocketGear’s direct to consumer app stores has also expanded to include the largest independent app store, Handango.com, joining PocketGear’s app store network that includes PocketGear.com, Mobile2Day.de, SymbianGear.com, AndroidGear.com, RIMGear.com, Smartphone.net, and PalmGear.com. In addition, more than 1,000 app developers are now using PocketGear’s developer storefront solutions to market and sell their mobile apps directly to consumers from their own websites and other marketing channels.
Upon closing, Jud Bowman will remain as President and CEO of PocketGear and Alex Bloom, current chief executive of Handango, will become Chief Operating Officer of PocketGear.
“Our vision is to facilitate an open app store ecosystem that supports every mobile device, every application, and every carrier network globally,” said Jud Bowman, President and CEO of PocketGear. “By combining the two largest independent app store companies, we’re creating significantly more scale and value for all of the stakeholders in the open app store ecosystem.”
Bowman added, “Handset manufacturers, carriers, and media companies now have a single marketplace where they can quickly and easily connect with developers, source a catalog of apps developed specifically for their supported devices, and create a branded, revenue generating storefront and app discovery engine that works across all devices, platforms, geographies, and carrier networks.”
“This is an exciting time in the app store market and we’re thrilled to be joining forces with PocketGear,” said Alex Bloom, CEO of Handango. “As we increase our scale, not only can we further accelerate speed to market of new devices and applications in a rapidly changing marketplace, but we’re also better positioned to help our distribution and developer partners increase the overall revenues per download from both paid and free apps.”
PocketGear was represented in this transaction by Kip Johnson of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC.
About PocketGear, Inc.
PocketGear is the world’s largest cross platform, open app store and content marketplace with a catalog of more than 140,000 paid and free titles available for discovery and download. To date, PocketGear has generated over $400 million in mobile application revenues for the more than 32,000 developers in the PocketGear Developer Program. PocketGear powers storefront and content solutions for over 40 partners, including 4 of the world’s top 5 handset manufacturers, 4 of the top 5 mobile operators in the US, 3 of the top 10 mobile operators globally, and leading media and ecommerce companies, including Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Research in Motion, Microsoft, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon Wireless. In addition, PocketGear operates the largest network of independent app stores, including Handango.com, PocketGear.com, Mobile2Day.de, SymbianGear.com, AndroidGear.com, RIMGear.com, Smartphone.net, and PalmGear.com.
PocketGear is headquartered in Durham, NC with offices in Munich, Germany and Irving, TX. For more information, please visit http://corp.pocketgear.com.
About Handango
Handango is the leading provider of smartphone applications globally for the BlackBerry©, Palm©, Windows Mobile©, Symbian OS©, and Linux platforms. Leveraging its 140,000+ apps, network of 23,000+ content partners, and vast distribution network, Handango delivers top-selling mobile applications including games, business and entertainment apps and productivity tools to millions of consumers. Applications can be downloaded via www.handango.com, partner Web sites, SD cards and Handango’s proprietary on-device catalog, InHand, the industry’s leading content delivery platform that allows consumers to purchase mobile apps directly from their smartphone and download them over the air. Handango’s unparalleled content expertise has attracted numerous mobile industry partners, including Microsoft, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Alltel, AT&T, 3UK, LG, SoftBank, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Best Buy, The CarPhone Warehouse, CNET, and AOL.
Samsung Mobile Selects PocketGear to Power Samsung Widget Store
[via Engadget]
Official press releases from PocketGear.com.
PocketGear Acquires Handango, Creating the World’s Largest Cross Platform, Open App Store
PocketGear’s App Store supports 2,000+ mobile devices and every major OS platform, connecting consumers in 175+ countries with 140,000+ paid and free titles
Durham, NC — February 23, 2010 — PocketGear, Inc. today announced the acquisition of Handango, the leading provider of smartphone applications globally, creating the world’s largest cross platform, open app store and content marketplace with a catalog of more than 140,000 paid and free titles that are available for discovery and download by the more than 4 billion consumers worldwide using Android©, Symbian OS©, BlackBerry©, Windows Mobile©, Palm©, Linux, and Java© powered mobile devices. PocketGear and Handango are the two largest independent app stores and combined to date have generated over $400 million in mobile application revenues from customers living in more than 175 countries and using over 2,000 unique mobile devices.
With the acquisition, PocketGear’s mobile app marketplace has been expanded to connect more than 32,000 developers in the PocketGear Developer Program with over 40 PocketGear-powered storefront and distribution partners, including 4 of the world’s top 5 handset manufacturers, 4 of the top 5 mobile operators in the US, 3 of the top 10 mobile operators globally, and leading media and ecommerce companies including Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Research in Motion, Microsoft, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon Wireless. The reach of PocketGear’s direct to consumer app stores has also expanded to include the largest independent app store, Handango.com, joining PocketGear’s app store network that includes PocketGear.com, Mobile2Day.de, SymbianGear.com, AndroidGear.com, RIMGear.com, Smartphone.net, and PalmGear.com. In addition, more than 1,000 app developers are now using PocketGear’s developer storefront solutions to market and sell their mobile apps directly to consumers from their own websites and other marketing channels.
Upon closing, Jud Bowman will remain as President and CEO of PocketGear and Alex Bloom, current chief executive of Handango, will become Chief Operating Officer of PocketGear.
“Our vision is to facilitate an open app store ecosystem that supports every mobile device, every application, and every carrier network globally,” said Jud Bowman, President and CEO of PocketGear. “By combining the two largest independent app store companies, we’re creating significantly more scale and value for all of the stakeholders in the open app store ecosystem.”
Bowman added, “Handset manufacturers, carriers, and media companies now have a single marketplace where they can quickly and easily connect with developers, source a catalog of apps developed specifically for their supported devices, and create a branded, revenue generating storefront and app discovery engine that works across all devices, platforms, geographies, and carrier networks.”
“This is an exciting time in the app store market and we’re thrilled to be joining forces with PocketGear,” said Alex Bloom, CEO of Handango. “As we increase our scale, not only can we further accelerate speed to market of new devices and applications in a rapidly changing marketplace, but we’re also better positioned to help our distribution and developer partners increase the overall revenues per download from both paid and free apps.”
PocketGear was represented in this transaction by Kip Johnson of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC.
About PocketGear, Inc.
PocketGear is the world’s largest cross platform, open app store and content marketplace with a catalog of more than 140,000 paid and free titles available for discovery and download. To date, PocketGear has generated over $400 million in mobile application revenues for the more than 32,000 developers in the PocketGear Developer Program. PocketGear powers storefront and content solutions for over 40 partners, including 4 of the world’s top 5 handset manufacturers, 4 of the top 5 mobile operators in the US, 3 of the top 10 mobile operators globally, and leading media and ecommerce companies, including Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Research in Motion, Microsoft, T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon Wireless. In addition, PocketGear operates the largest network of independent app stores, including Handango.com, PocketGear.com, Mobile2Day.de, SymbianGear.com, AndroidGear.com, RIMGear.com, Smartphone.net, and PalmGear.com.
PocketGear is headquartered in Durham, NC with offices in Munich, Germany and Irving, TX. For more information, please visit http://corp.pocketgear.com.
About Handango
Handango is the leading provider of smartphone applications globally for the BlackBerry©, Palm©, Windows Mobile©, Symbian OS©, and Linux platforms. Leveraging its 140,000+ apps, network of 23,000+ content partners, and vast distribution network, Handango delivers top-selling mobile applications including games, business and entertainment apps and productivity tools to millions of consumers. Applications can be downloaded via www.handango.com, partner Web sites, SD cards and Handango’s proprietary on-device catalog, InHand, the industry’s leading content delivery platform that allows consumers to purchase mobile apps directly from their smartphone and download them over the air. Handango’s unparalleled content expertise has attracted numerous mobile industry partners, including Microsoft, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Alltel, AT&T, 3UK, LG, SoftBank, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Best Buy, The CarPhone Warehouse, CNET, and AOL.
Samsung Mobile Selects PocketGear to Power Samsung Widget Store
Dallas, TX & Durham, NC — October 5, 2009 — Samsung Telecommunications America
(Samsung Mobile)1, the number one distributor of mobile phones in North
America2, today announced that it has selected PocketGear, Inc., a leading
provider of mobile content distribution and application storefront solutions, to power the Samsung Widget Store.
At launch, the Samsung Widget Store will be available to run across Samsung’s lineup of new TouchWiz™
mobile phones, providing consumers with a simple and easy way to access hundreds of rich connected mobile
applications, or “widgets”, including Facebook, Twitter, Fox Sports and many other leading consumer services.
“Through our alliance with PocketGear, we are able to provide carriers and developers with a simple way to
create and distribute dynamic TouchWiz applications while providing consumers with an easy to use on-device
experience to discover and access them,” said Omar Khan, senior vice president of strategy and product
management, Samsung Mobile. “We’re excited to offer our new TouchWiz touchscreen devices with the integrated
Samsung Widget Store to the carriers, making it easier for them to stay connected with their customers using
Samsung Mobile’s devices.”
PocketGear’s Fuel Platform is an end-to-end mobile application and widget platform that allows Samsung
to efficiently source widgets and applications from their developer partners while providing consumers with
immediate and convenient access to rich connected mobile applications across their device portfolio. To date,
PocketGear’s carrier-grade Fuel Platform has delivered more than $2.5 billion of mobile content and applications
to over 2,000 mobile and advanced Internet media devices.
“At Samsung, carriers and application developers are the most important groups we work with,” said Gavin
Kim, vice president of content and services, Samsung Mobile. “With the Samsung Widget Store, we’re
facilitating a rich ecosystem of widgets to showcase the potential for our TouchWiz devices, and we
selected PocketGear for their carrier-grade Fuel Platform and their proven ability to scale a fully
integrated service across the largest carrier networks, helping us to rapidly accelerate our time to
market.”
Developers can download the Samsung Widget SDK to easily create innovative widgets using open Web
standards and tools, and register to upload their applications for distribution on the Samsung Widget
Store by visiting http://innovator.samsungmobile.com/.
“Samsung Mobile is reinventing the way consumers interact with their phones to get information and
entertainment,” said Jud Bowman, founder and CEO of PocketGear. “We are honored and excited to have the
opportunity to work with Samsung to help expand their global leadership position with the launch of the
Samsung Widget Store.”
About Samsung Telecommunications America
Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC, a Dallas-based subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.,
researches, develops and markets wireless handsets and telecommunications products throughout North
America. For more information, please visit www.samsungwireless.com.
About Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital
media and digital convergence technologies with 2008 consolidated sales of US$96 billion. Employing
approximately 164,600 people in 179 offices across 61 countries, the company consists of two business
units: Digital Media & Communications and Device Solutions. Recognized as one of the fastest growing
global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones
and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.
About PocketGear, Inc.
PocketGear is a leading provider of mobile content distribution and application storefront solutions
for service providers, OEM’s, media companies and consumers. PocketGear combines Fuel, a carrier-grade
mobile application platform, with 30,000 developers and a catalogue of over 100,000 applications to
connect millions of people around the world with applications and digital content developed specifically
for their mobile device. PocketGear provides mobile content solutions for more than 15 partners including
Samsung, AT&T, Palm, T-Online, and AOL and powers mobile content storefronts such as PocketGear.com,
SymbianGear.com, PalmGear.com, Smartphone.net, and Mobile2Day.de. PocketGear’s Fuel platform has
delivered more than $2.5 billion in mobile content revenues to over 2,000 different mobile and
advanced Internet media devices, and has been recognized by Frost & Sullivan and the GSM Association
as an industry leading solution. PocketGear is headquartered in Durham, NC with offices in Munich,
Germany. For more information, please visit http://corp.pocketgear.com.
1. Samsung Mobile is proud to provide ENERGY STAR-qualified power adapters with its mobile phones and
accessories. ENERGY STAR qualified products use less energy, save money, and help protect the
environment. Products that have earned the ENERGY STAR meet strict energy-efficiency guidelines
set by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy.
2. Based upon reported shipment data, according to Strategy Analytics Q2 2009 U.S. Market Share
Handset Shipments Report.
Media Contacts:
PocketGear, Inc.
Matt Stein
Tel: +1 919 251 6133
Samsung Mobile
Tracy Calabrese, MWW Group for Samsung Mobile
Tel: +1 212 414 3332
[email protected]
Android is Talking Business
MobiSystems OfficeSuite for Android now available at AndroidGear.com
Munich — September 10, 2009 — With the launch of Android in
late 2008, a brand-new and powerful OS dares the established smartphone platforms such as
Windows Mobile ®, BlackBerry
RIM ® and SymbianOS ®. One of the biggest challenges for a newly launched OS is to catch up
with the vast variety of applications already available for competing platforms. The Android
community today takes a big step towards business compatibility with the release of
MobiSystems OfficeSuite 1.0 for Android, now available at AndroidGear.com. OfficeSuite is
currently the most complete document viewer application for Android, enabling users to open
native DOC, DOCX, TXT, XLS, XLSX, CSV, PPT, PPTX, PPS, PPSX and PDF files and
attachments.
OfficeSuite for Android is available at AndroidGear.com, PocketGear’s software portal for the
Android platform. A trial-version enables users to test the app before purchasing. The top-selling
OfficeSuite versions for SymbianOS ® and Palm OS ® can be found at other PocketGear
storefronts including SymbianGear.com and PalmGear.com.
The fully-featured OfficeSuite program with viewing and editing features will be available this fall.
Any customer that purchases a license key for OfficeSuite Viewer will be entitled to a special
discount for the complete OfficeSuite.
AndroidGear.com offers a wide range of freeware and commercial applications for Android-
powered smartphones based on Google’s open source operating system.
About PocketGear, Inc.
PocketGear is a leading provider of smartphone content distribution and mobile application
storefront solutions for mobile Internet devices across platforms. PocketGear provides a
carrier-grade platform connecting millions of people around the world with applications and
digital content from a network of more than 30,000 developers. PocketGear powers smartphone
application distribution for direct channels including PocketGear.com, SymbianGear.com,
PalmGear.com, Smartphone.net, and Mobile2Day.de and for more than 15 partners including
Palm, T-Online, and AOL. Since its inception, PocketGear has powered more than 100 million
downloads to smartphones and mobile devices from a catalog of more than 70,000 applications.
Acquired from Motricity in 2008 by Motricity co-founder Jud Bowman, PocketGear is backed by
leading venture capital firms Noro-Moseley Partners and Wakefield Group. PocketGear is
headquartered in Durham, NC with offices in Munich, Germany. For more information, please
visit http://corp.pocketgear.com.
PocketGear Names Tim Horan as Vice President of Business Development
Brings Expertise from Mobile and Internet Pioneers Motricity and Excite
Durham, NC — July 8, 2009 — PocketGear, Inc., a leading provider of smartphone
content distribution and mobile application storefront solutions, today announced the appointment
of Tim Horan as Vice President of Business Development.
Tim brings more than fifteen years of experience leading business development and go to market
strategies for a number of fast growth mobile platform, search, and online media businesses.
Tim has worked in all facets of the mobile and online media landscape and has a successful
track record working with mobile operators, handset manufacturers, OEM’s, media companies
and content providers to help them innovate and bring new revenue generating products and
services to market in a rapidly evolving industry.
At Motricity, a pioneer in providing mobile data solutions to mobile operators, Tim was part of
the initial management team where he led global business development, sales and customer
operations and helped close the initial contracts with mobile operators. Joining in 2001
as one of the first 30 employees, Tim was responsible for establishing Motricity’s distribution,
technology and content licensing agreements that supported many of the leading mobile operators,
handset manufacturers, and content providers, developing a footprint of over 150 million
subscribers globally, supporting over 10,000 application developers and content providers,
and closing contracts that generated over $2.5 billion in mobile content revenues.
Prior to Motricity, as an early employee at Excite, one of the first search engines and online
portals, Tim was responsible for expanding distribution and growing revenues for various search,
advertising, and e-commerce businesses for Excite Mobile, Excite.com, and the broader Excite@Home
Network of properties. Tim joined Excite Inc. in 1996, and during his tenure in sales and
business development, he was responsible for closing advertising and commerce contracts
totaling over $50 million in revenue. More recently Tim was the President and founder of a
search start-up that provides local, social search and lead generation solutions to media
companies and local businesses.
“I am really excited by the rapid consumer adoption of smartphones and other mobile Internet
devices, the innovative and unique applications that are being developed to take advantage
of their advanced capabilities, and the incredible global growth prospects for PocketGear,”
said Tim Horan. “I look forward to working with mobile operators, handset manufacturers,
OEM’s, and media companies to help them leverage the real-time, always-on capabilities of
these advanced devices to extend and deepen their customer relationships.”
“I am thrilled to have the chance to work with Tim again at PocketGear and leverage his
experience at Motricity and Excite to help accelerate PocketGear’s success,” said Jud
Bowman, CEO and founder of PocketGear.
About PocketGear, Inc.
PocketGear is a leading provider of smartphone content distribution and mobile application
storefront solutions for mobile Internet devices across platforms. PocketGear provides a
carrier-grade platform connecting millions of people around the world with applications and
digital content from a network of more than 30,000 developers. PocketGear powers smartphone
application distribution for direct channels including PocketGear.com, SymbianGear.com,
PalmGear.com, Smartphone.net, and Mobile2Day.de and for more than 15 partners including
Palm, T-Online, and AOL. Since its inception, PocketGear has powered more than 100 million
downloads to smartphones and mobile devices from a catalog of more than 70,000 applications.
Acquired from Motricity in 2008 by Motricity co-founder Jud Bowman, PocketGear is backed by
leading venture capital firms Noro-Moseley Partners and Wakefield Group. PocketGear is
headquartered in Durham, NC with offices in Munich, Germany. For more information, please
visit http://corp.pocketgear.com.
Launch :: App Store for Symbian
Launch :: App Store for Windows Mobile
Launch :: Palm App Store
PocketGear Launches AndroidGear.com, the new Application Store for Google Android Smartphones
25% discount on apps through November 30, 2008
Durham, NC & Munich, Germany —
PocketGear, well known for application stores like PocketGear.com, PalmGear.com, SymbianGear.com,
RIMGear.com and Mobile2Day.com, today announced the launch of AndroidGear.com. The new app store
offers a wide range of freeware and commercial applications for Android™-powered smartphones
based on Google’s open source operating system, Android.
“With the tremendous success of the first Android-based phone, T-Mobile’s G1, Google managed
an overwhelming first appearance in the smartphone-market,” said Ralf Ockenfelds, Vice President
International of PocketGear. “Additional Android devices have been announced for launch in Q1 2009,
and we believe this platform provides a significant opportunity for developers to distribute
innovative applications to smartphone users.”
PocketGear is celebrating the launch with a 25%-Off site-wide-sale at all of its app stores,
including PocketGear.com, PalmGear.com, SymbianGear.com, RIMGear.com, Mobile2Day.com, and of
course AndroidGear.com. By entering the voucher code “SALE25” users save 25% on all apps
purchased until November 30, 2008. The sale code is also valid on all of PocketGear Germany’s
sites.
In addition to the launch of AndroidGear.com, PocketGear also announced today the launch of
the first German-language Android app store, AndroidGear.de, and the UK-version AndroidGear.co.uk.
Developers are invited to upload their freeware and commercial applications to PocketGear for
distribution through AndroidGear — please visit http://www.androidgear.com/developers
for more information.
About PocketGear, Inc.
PocketGear provides a platform connecting millions of people around the world with smartphone
applications from a network of more than 30,000 developers. PocketGear powers smartphone
application distribution for direct channels including PocketGear.com, SymbianGear.com,
PalmGear.com, AndroidGear.com, RIMGear.com, Smartphone.net, and Mobile2Day.com and for
more than 15 partners including Palm, Sony Ericsson, T-Online, and AOL. Since its inception,
PocketGear has powered more than 100 million downloads to smartphones and mobile devices from
a catalog of more than 70,000 applications. Acquired from Motricity in 2008 by Motricity
co-founder Jud Bowman, PocketGear is backed by leading venture capital firms Noro-Moseley
Partners and Wakefield Group. PocketGear is headquartered in Durham, NC with offices in
Munich, Germany. For more information, please visit http://corp.pocketgear.com.
Media Contacts:
Karl Heupel, PocketGear Deutschland GmbH
Truderinger Str. 273, 81825 München
Tel: (+49) 2238 957282
Matt Stein, PocketGear, Inc.
Tel: +1 919 830 3876
[email protected]
One phone solution for Nokia mobile telephones
Professional Dual Mode client software “OptiMobile Uniphone” is now available for
Symbian series 60 at Mobile2Day.de and SymbianGear.com
MUNICH and STOCKHOLM — PocketGear Germany
and Optimobile AB today announce the general availability of OptiMobile’s client
software UniPhone for a large range of Nokia mobile telephones. The software can
be purchased via instant download at 25€ and is available through the online-portal
www.mobile2day.de “Home of PDAs and Smartphones” and
www.SymbianGear.com “Giving Live to your Symbian device”.
The UniPhone client software enables mobile telephone users to easily make calls via broadband
Internet connections (VoIP over WLAN) as well as via traditional cellular networks. Information
regarding contacts, call logs, user settings are available to the user in one unified interface.
With the UniPhone installed on the Nokia mobile phone the user will benefit from:
* Attractive tariffs when calling via WLAN
* Call set up from existing phone book
* Automatic selection between cellular and WLAN access
* Unified user interface adopting to native interface of the Nokia handset
* State of art sound quality
Guidelines for VoIP beginner’s can be found on www.optimobile.se
UniPhone is suitable for individuals as well as for corporations of all sizes.
OptiMobile UniPhone with dual mode functionality is available for Nokia mobile telephones running
Symbian series 60. Examples of currently supported models are Nokia E51, E61, E65, N78, N82,
N85, N95 and N96. OptiMobile intends to make UniPhone available for all new Nokia mobile
telephones running Symbian series 60. OptiMobile UniPhone (SIP VoIP client) for Sony Ericsson
mobile telephones running Symbian UIQ are also available via PocketGear on-line portals.
About Optimobile:
OptiMobile is a leader of unified mobile communications solutions, in particular within the field of
mobile voice solutions. OptiMobile offers a standards compliant engine for unified mobile voice
solution that allows end-users to easily make mobile voice calls over the Internet/Intranet as well as
via cellular networks. OptiMobile’s main customers include mobile system providers, global operators,
providers of enterprise communication solutions and terminal manufacturers and vendors. More
information is available at www.optimobile.se.
About PocketGear, Inc.
PocketGear provides a platform connecting millions of people around the world with smartphone
applications from a network of more than 30,000 developers. PocketGear powers smartphone
application distribution for direct channels including PocketGear.com, SymbianGear.com,
PalmGear.com, Smartphone.net, and Mobile2Day.de and for more than 15 partners including
Palm, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, T-Online, and AOL. Since its inception, PocketGear has powered
more than 100 million downloads to smartphones and mobile devices from a catalog of more than
50,000 applications. Acquired from Motricity in 2008 by Motricity co-founder Jud Bowman,
PocketGear is backed by leading venture capital firms Noro-Moseley Partners and Wakefield
Group. PocketGear is headquartered in Durham, NC with offices in Munich, Germany. For more
information, please visit http://corp.pocketgear.com.
Media Contacts:
Karl Heupel, PocketGear Deutschland GmbH
Truderinger Str. 273, 81825 München
Tel: +49 179 7840081
Lars Edman, OptiMobile AB
Tel: +46 734 310 191
Screenshots:
Screenshots and Pictures are available at:
http://www.mobile2day.de/presselounge.html
Reviewer’s Copies:
If you intend to review the product, please get in contact with Karl Heupel for a
free copy of Optimobile Uniphone.
Motricity Co-Founder Launches New Venture, PocketGear
Acquires smartphone applications business from Motricity and receives
investment from Noro-Moseley Partners and Wakefield Group
Durham, NC — Jud Bowman, co-founder of Motricity,
announced today the creation of his new venture, PocketGear, and the
acquisition of the smartphone applications business from Motricity.
The company also announced today that it has received investment from
leading venture capital firms Noro-Moseley Partners and Wakefield Group.
PocketGear provides a platform connecting millions of people around the
world with smartphone applications from a network of more than 30,000
developers. PocketGear powers smartphone application distribution for direct
channels including PocketGear.com, SymbianGear.com, PalmGear.com,
Smartphone.net, and Mobile2Day.de and for more than 15 partners including
Palm, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, T-Online, and AOL. Since its inception,
PocketGear has powered more than 100 million downloads to smartphones
and mobile devices from a catalog of more than 50,000 applications.
“Mobile phones are increasingly smartphones that run advanced operating
systems such as Palm OS, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian OS or Linux,
and Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android are helping accelerate smartphone
adoption,” said Jud Bowman, President and CEO of PocketGear. “The smartphone
application market is poised for significant growth, and PocketGear is a
platform that connects more than 30,000 developers of smartphone applications
with millions of smartphone users around the world.”
The new company will be headquartered in Durham, North Carolina with
offices in Munich, Germany.
“While it’s difficult to leave Motricity, I’m incredibly excited about
the opportunity to lead PocketGear and build a great company based in the
Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina,” said Bowman.
PocketGear also announced that Mike Elliott, General Partner at
Noro-Moseley Partners, and Steve Nelson, Managing Director of Wakefield
Group, have joined PocketGear’s board of directors.
“Noro-Moseley backs great entrepreneurs and we couldn’t be more excited
to invest in Jud Bowman and PocketGear,” said Mike Elliott, General Partner
at Noro-Moseley Partners. “We believe the market for smartphone content and
applications is set for exponential growth and that PocketGear’s technology,
customers, and developer community are perfectly positioned to capture this
opportunity.”
“I’ve had the chance to know and work closely with Jud Bowman for the
past eight years in helping build Motricity,” said Steve Nelson, Managing
Director of Wakefield Group. “I couldn’t be more excited about the chance
to do it again and help build PocketGear into one of the largest providers
of content and applications for smartphones.”
Prior to PocketGear, Jud co-founded Motricity and was instrumental in
raising $400 million of venture capital and growing Motricity to more than
$100 million in annual revenues and 500 employees globally supporting one
of the industry’s leading mobile content delivery platforms that delivers
more than $1 billion of content to mobile phones per year and was named the
2006 Best Service Delivery Platform by the GSM Association, Best Content
Service Delivery Platform by Mobile Entertainment magazine and honored by
Frost & Sullivan as the Premium Mobile Content Platform of the Year in 2005.
Jud has been named as one of the world’s “Top 100 Young Innovators” by
MIT’s Technology Review and one of “Tech’s Best Young Entrepreneurs” by
BusinessWeek in 2007. He was also recognized as a winner of the Carolinas’
Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” award in 2001. Jud is currently
on leave from Stanford University, where he has been named a President’s
Scholar, and is a graduate of the North Carolina School of Science and
Mathematics.
About PocketGear, Inc.
PocketGear provides a platform connecting millions of people around the
world with smartphone applications from a network of more than 30,000 developers.
PocketGear powers smartphone application distribution for direct channels
including PocketGear.com, SymbianGear.com, PalmGear.com, Smartphone.net,
and Mobile2Day.de and for more than 15 partners including Palm, Sony Ericsson,
Sprint, T-Online, and AOL. Since its inception, PocketGear has powered more
than 100 million downloads to smartphones and mobile devices from a catalog
of more than 50,000 applications. Acquired from Motricity in 2008 by Motricity
co-founder Jud Bowman, PocketGear is backed by leading venture capital firms
Noro-Moseley Partners and Wakefield Group. PocketGear is headquartered in Durham,
NC, with offices in Munich, Germany. For more information, please
visit www.pocketgear.com.
About Noro-Moseley Partners
Founded in 1983, Atlanta-based Noro-Moseley Partners (“NMP”) is one of the
largest and most experienced venture capital firms in the southeastern United
States. Since its inception, NMP has created five limited partnership funds
totaling approximately $580 million in capital and has invested in approximately
160 companies. In 2000, NMP announced the closing of NMP V, a $320 million venture
capital fund, the largest ever in the Southeast. Our mission over the last
twenty-three years remains the same: to partner with strong management teams
to build companies of significant value. For more information, please visit
www.noromoseley.com.
About Wakefield Group
Founded in 1988, Wakefield Group has provided growth capital to more than
40 companies, primarily in North Carolina. We manage more than $100 million
of capital, operate offices in Charlotte and Research Triangle Park, NC, and
are privately owned. For more information, please visit www.wakefieldgroup.com.
Motricity Sells Smartphone and Direct-to-Consumer Businesses
Bellevue, WA — Motricity, a leading provider of mobile content infrastructure
and services, today announced that it has sold its smartphone and direct-to-consumer
businesses to an entity owned by Motricity co-founder, former board member and
executive Jud Bowman. The new company will operate going forward as PocketGear, Inc.
The sale includes Motricity’s direct-to-consumer businesses PocketGear.com,
SymbianGear.com, PalmGear.com, Smartphone.net, Mobile2Day.de, and smartphone
application storefronts powered for partners including Palm, Sony Ericsson and AOL.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“The divestiture of our smartphone and direct-to-consumer businesses supports
Motricity’s commitment to continue to strengthen our focus on our core business
of providing mobile content infrastructure and services for the leading global
mobile operators,” said Ryan Wuerch, chairman and chief executive officer of
Motricity. “The direct-to-consumer business was part of the foundation of
Motricity and has strong potential for continued growth. However, it is no
longer aligned with the strategic focus of the company.
“This transaction will enable many of the same employees that have worked
with this part of Motricity for years to continue to operate the business.
Jud played such an integral role in Motricity’s success and I’m confident
he’ll have the same success with PocketGear,” Wuerch added.
PocketGear will assume responsibility for Motricity’s smartphone and
direct-to-consumer businesses immediately. Customers and partners of
the affected businesses can expect business as usual with a seamless
transition and no interruption to service.
“I am very proud of what we built at Motricity over the last eight years,”
said Jud Bowman, president and chief executive officer of PocketGear.
“Today the company is the leading provider of mobile content
infrastructure and services, powering some of the largest operators
in the world. I look forward to Motricity’s continued growth and
success.
“While it’s difficult to leave Motricity, I’m incredibly excited about the
opportunity to lead PocketGear and believe the smartphone application market
is poised for significant growth,” Bowman added.
In conjunction with the closing of the transaction, Bowman has resigned
his position on the Motricity board of directors.
About Motricity
Motricity is a leading provider of mobile content infrastructure and services.
The company’s offerings span the content delivery chain, enabling compelling end
user experiences and delivering profitable and reliable mobile content offerings
for mobile operators and enterprise customers. Motricity’s customers include the
top 6 operators in North America representing 94% of all North American mobile
subscribers. Products and services range from mobile portals and storefronts
to messaging aggregation. Motricity is headquartered in Bellevue, WA and has
offices in Durham, NC, the U.K., France, and the Netherlands. For more information,
visit www.motricity.com.
About PocketGear, Inc.
PocketGear provides a platform connecting millions of people around the world
with smartphone applications from a network of more than 30,000 developers.
PocketGear powers smartphone application distribution for direct channels
including PocketGear.com, SymbianGear.com, PalmGear.com, Smartphone.net,
and Mobile2Day.de and for more than 15 partners including Palm, Sony Ericsson,
Sprint, T-Online, and AOL. Since its inception, PocketGear has powered more
than 100 million downloads to smartphones and mobile devices from a catalog
of more than 50,000 applications. Acquired from Motricity in 2008 by Motricity
co-founder Jud Bowman, PocketGear is backed by leading venture capital firms
Noro-Moseley Partners and Wakefield Group. PocketGear is headquartered in
Durham, NC with offices in Munich, Germany. For more information, please
visit www.pocketgear.com.
I have an app that is sold on both the Anroid Market and Handango. The sales on Handango are about 1% of the Android Market sales (and i rounded up).
I looked at Handango and couldn’t seem to find enough information on how Android products would be delivered. What about copy protection or did you have to make a key’d version? I’ve sold stuff through one of PocketGear’s incarnations but dropped them in favor of an eseller that only took a small fee for the transaction. For niche products paying a seller to “market” your software is a joke because they often have no clue what it is and therefore how to “market” it.
Check out Slide me slideme.org…
Slide me is a 3rd pary app store for people like me who live in CANADA and can’t buy stuff on the Google Market!
Its nice to finaly be able to buy SNESDroid in Canada…
The hardware patent shouldn’t matter because this app is not related at all. The process patent says “city and state” not city and/or state. I would think that means you could display one or the other. You could also have it display the area code or region (southwest, east coast) etc. If the device displayed zip codes instead of city state, you could probably write a secondary app that translates the zip code instead… Most companies just find ways “around” others patents.
Am I missing something here, or is this not useful almost exclusively for those platforms that don’t have a unified app store? I can’t imagine there are many developers putting their apps ONLY on this and not the Market, and since this doesn’t allow Android users to use anywhere near 140,000 apps (as we still can’t run WinMo, Palm etc apps) then I don’t think it’ll offer too much in the way of usefulness.
What it means is you have a store that offers product to people who have Android phones without the Market. I know one big market that isn’t serviced by Android Market and I have a lot of customers there. So it is in my interest to solve that problem for them. I know Handango has been offering Android apps for some time. 140K apps is just bragging rights and a marketing tool. The Android apps segment is likely to grow more than the others. That’s what they are looking at.
wrong section youneek,
i think this is a good idea, i’m all for more markets as long it’s legal. you’d be suprised how much stuff you can find out there NOT on a particular market