TMCnet News

PowerByHand Announces European Expansion; Acquisition of Mobile2Day Strengthens Company's Global Leadership Position
[August 25, 2004]

PowerByHand Announces European Expansion; Acquisition of Mobile2Day Strengthens Company's Global Leadership Position

DURHAM, N.C. --(Business Wire)-- Aug. 25, 2004 -- PowerByHand, the premier provider of mobile content and solutions, today announced that it has acquired European mobile content portal Mobile2Day.de. This acquisition strengthens PowerByHand's presence in Europe with an office in Munich, Germany, expanding the company's international sales efforts in the rapidly growing mobile content market. Mobile2Day.de's offerings complement PowerByHand's current base of more than 60,000 applications with an additional 6,000 Symbian applications and localized cross-platform content for the European market. In addition, Mobile2Day.de expands PowerByHand's network of online mobile storefronts including PalmGear.com, PocketGear.com, Smartphone.net and eReader.com.

Industry research indicates that mobile data will generate all mobile revenue growth in Western Europe over the next few years. The Yankee Group predicts that European data revenues will more than double over the next five years to approximately $50 billion.

"With the acquisition of Mobile2Day.de, PowerByHand is well-positioned to take advantage of the tremendous growth in the European market and expand our global leadership even further," said Ryan Wuerch, CEO of PowerByHand. "Approximately 30% of the visitors to our sites are from outside of the United States. This acquisition will provide those customers with localized sites and mobile content to better meet their needs."


Based in Germany, Europe's most active mobile software market, Mobile2Day.de provides over 20,000 applications from leading European developers to customers such as T-Online, Siemens, Toshiba and Tiscali. With over 1,000 developers, the company distributes applications across the spectrum of mobile platforms, including Palm, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Linux, Symbian and J2ME.

"We are excited to join the PowerByHand organization and expand our capabilities and offerings across the European market," said Ralf Ockenfelds, general manager of Mobile2Day.de. "Our expertise in the European mobile content market, combined with our local developer and content relationships, result in a true global market leader."

Mobile2Day.de joins the ranks of PowerByHand's other leading mobile industry properties including:

PalmGear.com:

PalmGear.com is the world's largest provider of Palm OS applications. PalmGear.com has more than 15,000 developers registered worldwide, distributes nearly 25,000 software applications and serves over 3 million customers per month. For more information, visit www.palmgear.com.

PocketGear.com:

PocketGear.com is the world's leading provider for consumers to obtain software applications for the Windows Mobile for Pocket PC. PocketGear.com has over 5,000 developers, over 13,000 software applications and serves millions of customers worldwide. For more information, visit www.pocketgear.com.

Smartphone.net:

Smartphone.net is the leading commercial Internet site devoted to third-party software solutions for the Windows Mobile(TM) Smartphone platform. Providing content distribution services for thousands of registered Windows Mobile developers to millions of mobile customers, Smartphone.net is providing unparalleled distribution resources for the developer community, encouraging the development of new smartphone solutions and further expanding the mobile handheld market. For more information, visit http://www.smartphone.net.

eReader.com:

eReader.com is the world's largest and most popular electronic bookstore, experiencing 40% of all eBook retail sales. 60% of all eBooks are read on eReader, eReader.com's proprietary eBook reader. eReader is cross-platform and can be used with Palm OS and Windows Mobile, as well as Windows and Macintosh desktop and laptop computers. For more information, visit www.ereader.com.

"We are thrilled to add Mobile2Day.de to the PowerByHand family," said Tony Philipp, senior vice president of International at PowerByHand. "This acquisition strengthens our position in Europe's largest mobile software market and further demonstrates our commitment as a global provider of mobile content."

About Mobile2Day

Mobile2day.de is the leading provider of mobile content for the European market. Founded in 1996, the company delivers over 20,000 mobile applications to over 150 million visitors each month through its partnerships with Siemens, Toshiba, T-Online, Tiscali and many more. With over 1,000 worldwide application developers, Mobile2Day.de supports the leading mobile platforms with over 3,000 applications for the Palm OS, 10,000 applications for the Pocket PC, 6,000 applications for the Symbian OS and 2,000 applications for Java (J2ME) phones. For more information, visit www.mobile2day.de.

About PowerByHand

PowerByHand is the leading provider of mobile content and solutions. Through our industry leading technology, we deliver over 60,000 digital media titles to millions of customers monthly worldwide through our content sites PalmGear.com, eReader.com, Smartphone.net and PocketGear.com, and provide mobile content solutions which support over 50 million mobile subscribers through partners such as Verizon Wireless, mmO2, Lycos, PalmSource and palmOne. For more information, visit www.powerbyhand.com.

All trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]