mobileu.co.uk

Pocketgear acquires Handango to create giant app store

It has been announced that independent application store, Pocketgear, has bought up another independent, Handango, creating an app store to rival the giants. The financial details of the acquisition have not been released.

The new merged store will have a combined content in excess of 140,000 premium and free titles and will be smaller in size only than vendor-owned, iPhone App Store and Android Market.

Content will be available for download by more than 4 billion users throughout the world. It will be the largest cross-platform content marketplace and open app store worldwide and will support BlackBerry, Android, Symbian, Palm, Java, Linux and Windows Mobile platforms. Its development partners include T-Mobile, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG, RIM, AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Microsoft.

The new company will operate under the PocketGear brand. PocketGear President and CEO, Jud Bowman, will remain in his current position and Chief Executive of Handango, Alex Bloom, will move to become the Chief Operating Officer at PocketGear.

PocketGear reports that the two companies have generated in excess of $400m in mobile application revenue to date, with customers in over 175 countries on more than 2,000 mobile handset models. Together they will be able to work on a greater scale and intend to target carriers and phone-makers not wishing to invest in establishing and running their own app stores.