Zurich-based mobile middleware maker Myriad Group is getting itself in to the sexier end of the business, acquiring San Mateo, California-based mobile social network aggregator developer Xumii for an undisclosed sum.
Myriad, which was formed when Esmertec bought Purple Labs in March, has so far been pitching products like its mobile web browser and Java runtimes.
But Xumii makes a mobile app for nine brands of handset that aggregates IM, status messaging and picture uploads for eight services (AOL (NYSE: TWX), Facebook, Flickr, Google (NSDQ: GOOG), MSN, MySpace, Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) and iMeem). Myriad CEO Simon Wilkinson, in the announcement, says the addition of social networking will boost Myriad’s pitch to operators and handset makers.
But Xumii, which lacks Twitter features, is not alone in this space, already occupied by the likes of aggregators Nimbuzz and Fring, and by distinct own-brand apps from sites like Facebook and MySpace themselves. Myriad says it’s buying Xumii’s “brand, technology and 17 employees”.