It’s not the rumoured Microsoft buyout of their mobile business division, but Nokia has announced the conditional sale of their messaging business unit to UK-based Synchronica. Pending both regulatory and shareholder approval the deal is expected to close sometime in Q3 and financial were not disclosed. Nokia’s operator-branded messaging (OBM) business has over 6 million users and provides email and IM to 10 North American carriers such as Bell, Rogers, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.
“The terms of the acquisition include an assignment of mobile operator contracts as well as source code of the related Nokia Messaging client and server software. As part of the deal, Synchronica and Nokia will enter into a long-term relationship in which Synchronica will provide the messaging software which Nokia will continue to preload on Nokia Series 40 phones… Approximately 250 employees, externals and contractors are planned to transfer from Nokia to Synchronica.”
Source: CNW
