World’s leading mobile phone supplier, Nokia announced on Friday that it would buy a privately-held mobile browser firm based in Chicago, Novarra.
The company Novarra was founded in the year 1999 and raised $50 million in funding in 2007.
Chicago-based company Novarra is famous for making web-based technologies for low-end mobile feature phones. Palm and U.S. Cellular make use of Novarra’s technology for things like web access, portals, videos, widgets and advertising.
Nokia announced that it is having plans to “deliver enhanced Internet experiences” on its mobile devices, This deal is seen as a way for Nokia to push mobile Internet access in emerging markets.
In a statement by the Finnish company, its stated that Novarra’s technology, which could compress and reformat Web sites for phones that couldn’t display them in their native form, will be used to improve the mobile Web experience on Nokia’s cheaper phones, including devices based on the Series 40 platform,According to Jonathan Arber, senior research analyst at IDC, in emerging markets, phone manufacturers and operators need to bring Internet access and Internet services to cheaper devices, which is what Nokia is doing by signing this deal.
Nokia isn’t providing any financial details of the deal, but the acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2010.Nokia has earlier also acquired mobile companies such as Dopplr, Plum, Cellity, Bit-Side and Navteq.