In an interesting turnaround, Motorola Inc. said it will use synchronization technology from Extended Systems in one of its new mobile phones instead of technology from its former subsidiary Starfish Software Inc.
Motorola announced just last month it sold its Starfish subsidiary to Pumatech Inc. Motorola purchased synchronization company Starfish in 1998 for about $200 million. During the time it owned Starfish, Motorola used Starfish synchronization technology in some of its handsets.
As part of Motorola’s Starfish sale, Pumatech acquired not only Starfish’s extensive patent portfolio but also a significant customer list, including IBM Corp. and Hutchison. However, Pumatech did not acquire two major Starfish customers-Nokia Corp. and Motorola itself-because those customer deals were open for renegotiations.
Now that Motorola no longer owns the business, it seems the company will now go elsewhere for its synchronization needs.
Motorola said it will bundle Extended Systems’ data synchronization technology with its new Linux-powered A760, a color-screen phone with a digital camera, MP3 audio player, video player and Java support. Extended Systems now counts Motorola, Siemens and Sony Ericsson as customers.
“With Extended Systems’ mobile technology, Motorola is able to provide all the functionality needed for PIM data access straight out of the box,” said Mala Chandra, Motorola’s vice president of software applications and architecture. “Not only does Extended Systems offer stable, robust sync capabilities, it provides a communication suite on the desktop PC that allows multiple device connection types (wired and wireless)-a critical feature for the mobile user.”
Separately, Extended Systems’ rival Pumatech reported its third straight quarter of increasing revenues. The company earned $6.7 million in its third quarter, up from the $5.8 million in the previous quarter. The company’s diluted loss per share was 8 cents, up from 2 cents in the previous quarter.
“We are pleased to announce that in Q3 of fiscal 2003, while Pumatech posted a net loss of 8 cents per share, the company achieved a small pro-forma profit-the first pro-forma profit reported by Pumatech in more than three years,” said Keith Kitchen, the company’s vice president of finance and chief accounting officer.
