News

Nokia Acquires Analytics Tool for Mobile Java Devs

• By John K. Waters
• August 23, 2010

Java developers building apps for Nokia devices are getting a new analytics tool: The Espoo, Finland-based wireless giant said it has signed an agreement to acquire Motally, a San Francisco-based provider of a mobile analytics software. Details of the deal were not available at press time.

Motally's in-application tracking and reporting software is designed to give developers a better understanding of how end users engage with their applications. Among other capabilities, the product offers a "two-way" mobile-app-communications feature designed to allow devs to make changes in real-time without having to resubmit their applications for an app-store re-approval process.

The tool set also comes with features for "standard" tracking, as well as tracking debug statements, error statements, generic actions, startup, shutdown and event types.

Nokia said it plans to adapt the software to provide usage statistics from mobile Web sites and applications running on Java-based mobile devices, as well as the Qt user interface framework and Nokia's Symbian and Meego operating systems. The Motally tools are currently compatible with Apple's iPad and iPhone, Research In Motion's Blackberry and Android-based smartphones.

Marco Argenti, vice president of Nokia's Media group, said the buyout "underpins" the company's focus on delivering in-application and mobile web browsing analytics to "the growing ecosystem of developers and publishers" contributing to its Ovi network/app store. Launched in public beta in August 2008, Ovi covers five "service areas," including games, maps, media, messaging and music.

Motally is an eight-person startup founded in 2008. Nokia has been adding to its tool chest by acquiring similarly small companies, most recently Web services provider Novarra, which it acquired last April. The company acquired MetaCarta, which specializes in geographic intelligence solutions (geosearch, geotagging, etc.), in that same month. The company has also been pursuing strategic alliances, partnering most recently with Yahoo, which it disclosed in May. The Yahoo deal added e-mail and instant messaging services to the Ovi platform. Yahoo added Nokia's NAVTEQ capabilities for its mapping and navigation services.

The Motally software will enable Nokia's partners "to better connect with their customers and optimize and monetize their offering," Argenti said in a statement.

Nokia said it expects to complete the deal in Q3 2010.