Update: The acquisition has been confirmed, and competitor AdMob issued the following statement:
"We believe that Apple’s proposed acquisition of Quattro serves as yet another validation of the vibrant mobile advertising industry and can help accelerate the pace of innovation and competition in this space."
Original Article: Apple is reportedly set to acquire Quattro Wireless for $275 million. This is according to the generally reliable Kara Swisher of BoomTown, who claims to have the information confirmed by several sources.
Quattro Wireless is a mobile ad network similar to AdMob, which is in the process of being acquired by Google. Reports suggest that Apple was in the running for Admob, but was outbid, so the next logical step was to seek a competitor to stay competitive with Google in this market.
The $275 million price tag is much smaller than what Google paid for AdMob ($750 million), but Quattro is considerably smaller. However, they both directly deal in advertising on smartphones, a market both Google and Apple are heavily competing in.
Google’s latest iPhone competitor, the Nexus One is scheduled to be unveiled today. You can read a bit more about that here.
According to Swisher, the official announcement about Apple’s acquisition of Quattro could come as early as today, but this has not been confirmed. Quattro is based in Waltham, Massachusetts. It counts Ford, Disney, and the NFL among its clients.
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