Mobispine looks to jumpstart RSS space with NewsAlloy acquisition

Mobile news aggregator Mobispine AB said it has acquired NewsAlloy, a Web-based feed reader, for an undisclosed sum.
A Sweden-based startup, Mobispine offers a free, Java-based download that delivers RSS feeds to more than 300,000 active members. The company said it hopes to integrate NewsAlloy’s technology – which includes an AJAX-driven user interface – to offer a cross-platform news service to mainstream mobile users.
“Users no longer have to settle for the difficult-to-use RSS feeds that other vendors offer for PCs and mobile phones,” said Mobispine CEO Dusyant Patel. “By joining forces with NewsAlloy, we can offer speedy and simple access to RSS feeds on both the PC and mobile phone. We believe all RSS users will find this technology a welcome change from current offerings.”
RSS – Really Simple Syndication – has gained strong traction online as a way for users to get headlines and other recent news from a single screen, but the technology has yet to catch fire in wireless. A host of companies are looking to change that, however, from established Internet players to startups such as Mobispine, Zumobi and Viigo.
“We can see that this space is becoming very, very attractive,” Patel said earlier this year in an interview with RCR Wireless News. “Two years ago you had one or two people in this space. Today you’re looking at 13, 14 people in the same space, including Google, Microsoft.”