Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Motricity Sells Smartphone Business

Mobile content infrastructure provider Motricity announced Wednesday that it has sold its smartphone and direct-to-consumer businesses to a group owned by Jud Bowman, a Motricity co-founder and former board member and executive. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Motricity said the transaction includes its direct-to-consumer businesses PocketGear.com, SymbianGear.com, PalmGear.com, Smartphone.net and Mobile2Day.de, as well as its smartphone application storefronts for partners Palm, Sony Ericsson and AOL. Motricity said Bowman's new company will operate as PocketGear Inc. and will immediately assume responsibility for those businesses. Backed by leading venture capital firms Noro-Moseley Partners and the Wakefield Group, PocketGear is headquartered in Durham, N.C. Motricity is based in Bellevue, Washington.