Nokia Beefs Up Its Multimedia Offerings With Twango Acquisition

Nokia has been acquiring companies recently in an effort to develop services that it can provide to users of its mobile phones.

W. David Gardner, Contributor

July 24, 2007

1 Min Read
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Nokia has purchased a 10-person online media company called Twango that the mobile phone company plans to use to offer photo, video, and other personal media to its subscribers.

Announced Tuesday, the acquisition will enable Nokia to offer users an easy-to-use way of sharing their multimedia content through their phones and desktops through a variety of document types -- more than 110 file types in all.

"The Twango acquisition is a concrete step toward our Internet services vision of providing seamless access to information, entertainment, and social networks at anytime, anywhere, from any connected device, in any way that you choose," said Anssi Vanjoki, executive VP and general manager of Nokia's multimedia unit, in a statement.

Nokia has been acquiring companies recently in an effort to develop services that it can provide to users of its mobile phones. Financial terms of the Twango deal weren't announced, but media reports indicated Nokia would pay slightly less than $100 million for Twango.

Nokia indicated that Twango's location in Redmond, Wash., -- near Microsoft -- was an important factor in the decision to acquire it. A year ago, Nokia acquired online audio provider Loudeye, located in Seattle.

In announcing the acquisition, Vanjoki said he visualized Nokia Nseries multimedia computers being in a state of "always on, always connected" and operating with Twango, as together they provide a rich media experience of photos, videos, and audio clips.

Serena Glover, who founded Twango with Jim Laurel, said plans are underway to aggressively build out the Nokia-Twango team in the Seattle area.

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