Motorola snaps up location specialist Aloqa
Location-based services are a pretty hot topic right now -- though not necessarily for all the reasons Google would like -- and Android specialist Motorola is diving a little deeper this week with its acquisition of German firm Aloqa. For those of you not familiar with Aloqa's app (which is available on a pretty wide variety of platforms), it basically keeps track of local events and deals that you might be interested in based on your location (and on Aloqa's partnerships, of course). For its part, Motorola says that it's looking to integrate the company's technology with Blur, both proving that Blur isn't going anywhere any time soon and also suggesting that Aloqa's apps on competing platforms might be short for this world; no word on a launch timeline, though. Follow the break for Motorola's full press release.
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Motorola Acquires Aloqa GmbH
Acquisition to Enhance MOTOBLUR(TM) with Context-Aware Mobile Platform and Related Services
SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Sept. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) today announced that it has acquired Aloqa GmbH, a privately-held, leading developer of location-based software and technologies that are designed to enable the discovery of relevant web content by mobile smartphone users. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Aloqa has joined Motorola Mobility, which is comprised of Motorola's Mobile Devices and Home businesses. Motorola Mobility is expected to be spun off from Motorola, Inc. in the first quarter of 2011.
Aloqa's technologies and services utilize the user's context (location, identity and social relationships) to proactively inform them of places, events, bargains and other opportunities of which they may choose to take advantage. For example, if Aloqa's software recognizes the user is in a certain region, it will offer him the top events of the day or special offers of leading discounters in the vicinity. Aloqa distributes its product as a mobile application for smartphone platforms, including Android, and more than one million users have already downloaded its software.
Aloqa will further enhance Motorola's MOTOBLUR(TM), which delivers customized content to mobile device homescreens and allows users to access Facebook™, MySpace and Twitter updates -- along with emails, news and favorite apps and widgets -- all in one place. MOTOBLUR(TM) will integrate Aloqa's open, location-triggered mobile push platform to connect users and publishers of location-aware content in real-time.
"Aloqa is an exciting addition to Motorola Mobility as its specialized engineering talent and location-tracking technology will significantly accelerate the release of our context-aware mobile services platform," said Christy Wyatt, corporate vice president of software and services product management for Motorola Mobility. "Aloqa's core technologies, user database, and specialized skills are a strong fit with our planned server-side context delivery architecture and will further enhance Motorola's MOTOBLUR(TM) capabilities. We welcome Aloqa's highly skilled personnel to the Motorola Mobility team."
"We are proud that a global mobile giant like Motorola chose the Aloqa platform as a core part of its future in location technologies. Like every startup, we have always dreamed of our technology and product being used by tens of millions of satisfied users everywhere. Being a part of the Motorola Mobility team will help us achieve this goal," said Sanjeev Agrawal, chief executive officer of Aloqa.
