NEW YORK-i3 Mobile Inc., which distributes customized information to wireless devices, and NeoPoint Inc., which does double duty as a handset maker and Internet portal, both plan their debuts as public companies.
i3 Mobile, formerly known as Intelligent Information Inc., has distribution agreements with 15 mobile carriers, including Vodafone AirTouch plc and AT&T Wireless Services Inc., to deliver electronic mail and information to data-capable cellular phones, personal digital assistants and pagers.
Approximately 450,000 end users receive ABC, ESPN, Dow Jones and other news services through i3 Mobile.
The company, headquartered in Stamford, Conn., filed Jan. 7 with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering in which it hopes to raise $65 million. Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown is lead underwriter.
NeoPoint, based in La Jolla, Calif., hopes to gain $75 million in its IPO, for which it has selected Merrill Lynch & Co. as lead manager, according to its SEC filing Jan. 11.
The company’s smart phones, based on Code Division Multiple Access technology, integrate voice, Internet access and personal digital assistant capabilities into a single wireless device. Sprint PCS uses the service.
LG Information Communications Ltd., South Korea, manufactures the phones for NeoPoint and owns about 26 percent of the company. Siemens Aktiengesellschaft owns approximately 20 percent.
The other major part of NeoPoint’s business is its myAladdin.com SmartService. This Internet portal includes global positioning technologies and provides personalization services based on the record it accumulates of a customer’s electronic information requests. The portal has not been launched commercially yet.
