Research In Motion(RIM) said that it has agreed to acquire NewBay Software, a provider of software to help mobile operators and device makers deliver content and services.
RIM did not disclose terms of the deal, which has yet to close, but it media and analyst reports put the price it paid for the software company at $100 million.
NewBay, based in Dublin, Ireland, sells a variety of tools for delivering messages, video, calendars and other types of content. Its flagship product, the LifeCache Platform, is designed to help service providers quickly roll out new services and integrate them with their networks and billing systems. The privately held company was founded in 2002 and claims AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA and Deutsche Telekom among its customers.
Analyst Mike Abramsky at RBC Capital Markets said RIM will likely use NewBay’s Internet-based photo and video albums, address books, calendars and other services as a base on which it will build up its content offerings.
“RIM is coming later to market than competitive offerings” from Apple’s iCloud, Amazon.com’s Cloud Drive and services from Google, he said. “It’s not known yet whether RIM’s offering will match or lag the content and user experience of competitors.”
[Source]-Reuters
