Visto Buys Good Technology From Motorola

Slumping handset sales have forced Motorola to sell mobile email company Good Technology, two years after it bought it. Good has been acquired by fierce rival Visto, a company known for patent lawsuits in the mobile messaging sector.

Mobile push synchronisation platform and service provider Visto is acquiring Motorola’s Good Technology, two years after  Motorola bought Good in 2007 for more than $400 (£277) million.

Motorola had hoped to use Good’s software on its phones, to challenge Research In Motion’s BlackBerry in the enterprise mobile e-mail market, but slumping sales of Motorola handsets put paid to that ambition.

Visto offers a full range of mobile messaging solutions for enterprises through mobile operators and OEM handset manufacturers. Despite the obvious overlap, Good will add to Visto’s government and enterprise customers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed and the acquisition should close within a few days.

“As a result of this transaction, Visto will now provide customers in over 100 countries an open, robust and secure mobile experience for enterprise customers, on over 400 different mobile devices,” Visto CEO Brian A. Bogosian said in a statement. “Good’s robust enterprise and government solution will complement Visto’s strong operator presence in business and consumer markets.”

When Motorola first acquired Good nearly two years ago, it wanted to add the Good platform to a its featurephones, but Motorola phone sales were locked in a downward spiral that led the company to consider selling the entire handset division. That spinoff has not happened but Motorola has continued to see its fortunes fall.

“We believe that this transaction is in the best interest of our customers, employees and shareholders,” said Gene Delaney, president of Motorola’s Enterprise Mobility Solutions. “Visto’s acquisition of Good will allow Motorola to continue to concentrate on providing best-in-class business-critical applications, secure management platforms and mobility services that empower the individual with the right information at the right time to streamline business processes and improve results.”

Through relationships with a number of US carriers, Good has implementations with thousands of enterprises, including many of the Fortune 500 with a high concentration of the Fortune 50.

“At this point, the parting of ways is best for both sides. And while terms were undisclosed, it’s likely a cheap(er) acquisition for Visto, that surprisingly scrappy survivor in the wireless e-mail market,” the Yankee Group’s Gene Signorini said in an investment note. “Visto has used its capital to continuously acquire mobile e-mail technology assets, and more importantly, patents, which it continues to aggressively defend. The question, of course, is whether Visto will eventually succeed as a mobile e-mail software company or as an IP shop.”

Established in 1996, “Visto’s customised, brandable solutions are available through mobile operators worldwide including AT&T, Elisa, Rogers Wireless, Qtel, SmarTone, SFR, Softbank Mobile, Sprint, TELUS, T-Mobile, Turkcell and the Vodafone Group,” the company said in a statement.