RIM Acquires Smartphone Software Developer Viigo

Research In Motion has purchased Viigo, an RSS service that lets mobile users customise an application to deliver information relevant to them, such as weather, news, flight information, stock quotes, sports updates, blogs and more.

“Viigo is excited to announce that our company is now part of Research In Motion,” Viigo CEO Mark Ruddock said in a statement on the Viigo home page.

“Our team has joined RIM’s global organisation and will continue to bring our expertise in BlackBerry application development and real-time content delivery to the BlackBerry platform,” Ruddock continued.

Ruddock didn’t say, however, whether Viigo will continue to develop for the Windows Mobile platform as well, which could be a kick in the shin for Microsoft, as it struggles to strengthen the Windows Mobile brand.

Terms of the Viigo acquisition were not disclosed.

Founded in 2004, Viigo was a privately held company based in Toronto, Ontario. RIM is headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario.

As for who the winners and losers in this deal may be, Roger Kay, an analyst with Endpoint Technologies, told eWEEK: “Seems like Viigo’s attribute of interest to RIM is its strength in mobile app development. Many BlackBerry users seem to feel that Viigo is a must-have for that environment. Some complain that Viigo is a memory hog, but that issue should iron out over time.”

Kay added, “Since we don’t know terms, we can’t say whether it is a good deal for RIM, but likely it was a nice payday for Viigo management.”