CallGenie Buys Mobile “Ad Exchange” PhoneSpots

Dec 13, 2007 at 8:03am ET by Greg Sterling

Voice services provider CallGenie announced the acquisition of mobile content provider and ad exchange PhoneSpots. The mostly stock transaction was valued at $5.75 million and provides a range of new client relationships and capabilities to Canada-based CallGenie.

PhoneSpots has been around since 1999 and pioneered the “send to mobile” feature now in widespread use on local search sites. PhoneSpots originally partnered with European mobile operators to offer enhanced results (additional content and links) from directory assistance queries when users opted to receive them as text messages. Most recently, PhoneSpots announced its first US customer relationship with AT&T, to power the YellowPages.com “send to mobile” feature and the company’s YP411 SMS platform.

CallGenie offered a “voice in, voice out” approach to content and ad delivery. However, that approach is incomplete in a rapidly evolving market, and the PhoneSpots acquisition allows the company to deliver mobile content and ads via text message or WAP in addition to voice.

We previously wrote about PhoneSpots’ mobile ad exchange. There’s also some additional information on LocalMobileSearch.net.

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land, and writes a personal blog Screenwerk, examining the broader world of media and advertising. He also posts at a Local Mobile Search, which is focused on the mobile Internet.

See more articles by Greg Sterling >

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