Motorola Mobility, the soon-to-be-independent division of Motorola Inc. that makes mobile devices, has acquired a California technology start-up that specializes in delivering music and video on demand.
Terms of the deal with Burlingame, Calif.-based Zecter Inc. were not disclosed. Motorola Inc. is separating into two companies on Jan. 4, becoming Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions. Motorola Mobility encompasses mobile devices and cable TV set-top boxes, while Motorola Solutions comprises communications equipment for government, public safety and industrial users. Each company will be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Motorola Mobility said Zecter’s technology, which involves a cloud-based system for accessing and sharing media such as music, video, photos and documents across mobile devices and PCs. Motorola Mobility has a proprietary cloud-based platform for mobile phones called Motoblur. The system was first introduced as a way to aggregate and organize content from users’ online social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, but Chief Executive Sanjay Jha has long talked about expanding Motoblur to other areas such as multimedia.
Motorola Mobility said Wednesday it plans to integrate Zecter’s technology into its devices and Motoblur service.
“Consumers want seamless access to their content and media from wherever they are, while content providers want to ensure that content remains protected and secure,” Christy Wyatt, corporate vice president of software services at Motorola Mobility, said in a statement, adding that Zecter provides “that seamless experience with the necessary security measures.”
In mid-September, Motorola Mobility acquired Aloqa GmbH, which makes a mobile phone application that delivers content such as discounts to a device based on where the user is located. Aloqa’s technology is also going to be integrated into the Motoblur system.
