Nokia on Monday said it had agreed to acquire Boston-based mobile
advertising start-up Enpocket, in a move analysts said could put considerable
pressure on wireless carriers.
The deal also reflects the Finnish handset maker’s effort to transform
itself into a software and services company. Financial terms were not
disclosed.
Enpocket displays advertisements on cell phones in various formats,
including banner ads, video clips and text messages. It works very closely with
carriers such as Sprint Nextel and Vodafone, combining operators’ customer data
with real time information, such as a subscriber’s location and key words
searched, to place ads that generate higher response rates.
"Enpocket is a good catch for Nokia,” commented Eden Zoller, principal
analyst at London
based management consultancy Ovum. “It is a well established mobile advertising
specialist and one of the stronger players in an increasingly competitive,
consolidating market,” she said.
Bena Roberts, founder and senior analyst at BKI Media, a UK-based mobile
media analysis company, said the acquisition will put Nokia at both ends of the
carriers’ value chain. The Finnish group already supplies devices that subscribers
use to access carrier networks and it would also be in a position to deliver advertisers
to the network – a very important new source of revenue for wireless operators.
“If I were an operator I would be scared,” she said. “It’s very frightening
to think that a mobile manufacturer has that much value in the chain.”
The Enpocket deal follows Nokia’s announcement earlier this month that it
intends to shift its emphasis towards software and services. Nokia described
the move as “an important element in monetizing those services for our
customers and partners.”
“This will definitely put them in a
more consumer facing position,” said Ian Maude, Internet advertising analyst at
London-based telecommunications and media consultancy Enders Analysis.
Enpocket is backed by BlueRun Ventures, GrandBanks Capital, Dolphin Equity
Partners, Brú Venture Capital.