LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. (AP) — Motorola Mobility Inc. said Wednesday it bought Zecter Inc., a startup whose technology allows for the wireless streaming of digital media such as music and photos. The company hopes this technology will enhance the software that Motorola already develops for smartphones and other mobile gadgets.
Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.
On Jan. 4, Motorola Inc. will split into two separate, publicly traded companies, with Motorola Mobility being the more consumer-focused. The Libertyville, Ill. company develops software that runs on its own smartphones. This software, dubbed "Motoblur," already does things such as show somebody's Facebook news feed on the phone's home screen, updating friends' status messages in real time.
Motorola hopes to enhance its Motoblur software using Zecter's ZumoCast technology, which makes it possible to wirelessly beam digital media — including music, videos, photos and documents — to a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet computer.
"Zecter will further enhance Motorola Mobility's mobile content experience and Motoblur service offering by enabling consumers to enjoy their digital content across their mobile devices, wherever they are," Motorola said in a statement.
Motorola, which has recently been showing its prototype first tablet to the public, is widely expected to formally reveal the device at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.
Silicon Valley-based Zecter also develops software, called "ZumoDrive," that sends people's digital media into a Web-based storage service. Motorola said that ZumoCast, the streaming service, will be down until Motorola makes some enhancements to it.
Zecter, founded in 2007, has received venture capital funding from Y Combinator, Tandem Entrepreneurs and Sherpalo Ventures.
