REDWOOD CITY, Calif.-Wireless Internet player Openwave Systems Inc. acquired instant messaging company Personity Inc. last month for an undisclosed amount.
An Openwave spokeswoman said the company gained three engineers and Personity’s technology through the move. She said Openwave would use Personity’s technology to add presence information to its location services. Presence services allow users to determine whether friends or family are available for communication.
Personity had been struggling for months before the acquisition, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Most of the company’s 30-person staff lost their jobs this spring.
The acquisition is the latest in a long line for Openwave. The company in May of last year acquired another instant messaging company, Avogadro, but that company’s technology did not include presence services. In June Openwave bought location-services company SignalSoft Corp. and Java company Ellipsus Systems.
