Nokia pockets Enpocket

Nokia Corp. continued its quest to be all things wireless, agreeing to acquire Boston-based mobile marketing firm Enpocket. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Six-year-old Enpocket was one of the first players in the mobile marketing space, and the company has carried out ad campaigns for noted brands including PepsiCo, Ford, Toyota and Snapple. The 120-employee firm delivers mobile ads via text, the wireless Web and video- and picture-messaging.
Sprint Nextel Corp. last year became the first tier-one operator to monetize its deck with ad revenues, tapping Enpocket to sell ads on the carrier’s inventory. Enpocket’s other carrier partners include Vodafone Group plc and India’s Bharti Airtel Ltd.
Nokia’s move extends a year-long spending spree that has seen the industry’s No. 1 handset manufacturer pocket a digital music company (the $60 million acquisition of Loudeye), a developer of mapping applications (gate5 GmbH for an undisclosed amount) and a social networking community (Twango, which was acquired for a reported $100 million).
The company last month introduced Ovi, an ambitious direct-to-consumer play that will serve as an umbrella brand for Nokia’s music, mapping and social networking offerings. The Enpocket acquisition may be the final major piece in Nokia’s effort, allowing the company to sell ad space on its own mobile applications and wireless Web pages.
The acquisition, which is expected to close later this year, follows AOL’s buyout in May of Third Screen Media for an undisclosed sum, as well as a number of other merger-and-acquisition deals on the mobile ad front.
“Nokia has already announced its intention to be a leading company in consumer Internet services, and we believe that mobile advertising will be an important element in monetizing those services for our customers and partners,” said Nokia CTO Tero Ojanpera. “This acquisition is a game-changing move to bring the reach and depth of Nokia to organize the market across the world, and make it easier for an ecosystem to develop.”
Shares of Nokia climbed 47 cents, or more than 1%, to $34.10 following the announcement.