Cartagena Capital advises Finnish Openbit on the sale of its Multimedia Business to PacketVideo of the US
21 June 2006 -- Openbit to focus on middleware solutions for mobile payment and digital rights management
Multimedia business assets acquired by PacketVideo
Openbit Ltd, the leading provider of global on-device payment, superdistribution and digital rights management (DRM) solutions for mobile applications, will place its sole focus on its fast growing License Manager business and further strengthens its technology and services portfolio to better address the needs of the mobile software vendors and content distributors.
Openbit’s other business operations will be divested to companies having firm focus on these activities. Openbit’s Multimedia business has been acquired by PacketVideo Corporation, and Openbit’s Software Market operation has been transferred to Soft Invest Oy. Openbit Ltd will continue to provide Nokia Software Market with technology solutions.
“Our License Manager has provided software vendors with new efficient means to distribute S60 software applications worldwide. Through this move, we will become much stronger to leverage the License Manager solution to new mobile platforms and customer segments”, says Arto Lehtonen, CEO of Openbit Ltd.
About Openbit Ltd
Openbit Ltd is a Finnish privately held software company founded in 1999. The company focuses on providing middleware solutions for mobile content promotion, distribution, on-device payment and digital rights management (DRM). Openbit’s core technology competence is to provide client server solutions based on excellent knowledge of Symbian, Windows Mobile and MIDP Java platforms.
About License Manager
Openbit License Manager provides wireless software vendors and content distributors with an advanced, fully hosted client server solution for superdistribution, on-device payment and digital rights management. Openbit has established links and agreements to enable the payment conveniently in subscriber phone bills in nearly 70 operator networks for the use of content. The credit card payment options by VISA, MasterCard and American Express complete the worldwide coverage of the mobile billing solution.
The License Manager solution has been optimised to make use of new efficient means of content distribution:
- Preloaded content: Manufacturers, retailers and operators can preinstall a collection of high quality applications inside phone or memory card sales boxes to make them readily available to all phone users. On average, a preinstalled software application is purchased by 5 % of phone users after a free trial. When there are 10 apps preloaded, they generate aftermarket revenue of € 6 per phone.
- Free trials over the air: Internet portals can promote and encourage end users to download content with free-of-charge trials. The purchase is conducted using License Manager from the phone user interface. The use of License Manager has doubled the sales of many applications in Handango and Nokia Software Market portals.
- Superdistribution: End users can copy content to their friends over Bluetooth. Based on experience, superdistribution adds the sales of good S60 content items by 25%.
Software vendors can also make the content available in traditional sales channels such as retail outlets and Internet portals. After the purchase, the customer will get a unique license code that can be used by one user to open the given content item.
For more information:
Arto Lehtonen
gsm +358 40 821 8225
e-mail: arto.lehtonen(at)openbit.com