Sun moves into mobile market with Pixo purchase
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Sun Microsystems has announced plans to buy Pixo, a small, privately held developer of mobile content delivery software.
San Jose, California headquartered Pixo provides mobile network operators with Java-based, server-side software to manage the secure distribution and 'monetization' of digital content, such as games, videos and corporate information, to mobile devices. The company has also developed a billing platform for wireless content.
Pixo will be folded into its software unit, headed up by Jonathan Schwartz.
"The adoption of Java technology and the Java Card subscriber identity module (SIM) standard are unleashing revenue opportunities on a sea of new and emerging devices. The acquisition of Pixo accelerates that opportunity for Sun, for the operators of those services, the users of those devices, and the providers of all forms of digital content — from music and videos, to games and enterprise applications."
Sun is attempting to open up new revenue streams in several areas. For example, the company recently unveiled a low-cost Linux server range based on an Intel microprocessor as part of a new 'low-end, low-cost' strategy, and it has announced plans to triple the size of the Java developer community.
However, Sun will face fierce competition in the mobile data access and digital rights management market - most notably from its nemesis, Microsoft, which recently signed a landmark digital rights management deal with AOL.
Also, the cost of network bandwidth is currently seen as too high to enable the widespread adoption of mobile data services, but analysts believe that cost should fall dramatically over the next couple of years.
The acquisition of Pixo is expected to be completed in the first quarter of Sun's 2004 fiscal year, which begins on 1 July. Terms of the all-cash acquisition have not been disclosed.
