NeoMedia on an acquisition spree

Published 27 February 2006

More and more states have begun to deploy emergency alert systems (for example, we have reported on the implementations in California and four counties in Florida). More and more first responders and emergency teams, as they rush to a disaster scene, are beginning to rely on information being fed to the team members’ PDAs and laptops, offering details of the disaster, blueprints of the buildings involved, maps of the streets leading to and from the disaster area, and more. This is a good time, then, to be in the wireless contents delivery business, and Fort Myers, Florida-based NeoMedia Technologies (OTC BB: NEOM) knows this. The company, a developer of patented technologies which provide automatic links to content on the mobile Internet, has had a busy two weeks of acquisitions in the United States and Europe. Here is a sample:

Munich, Germany-based 12snap AG, a leader in marketing and entertainment applications and programs via cell phones, for $22 million in cash and shares

Wrselen, Germany-based Gavitec AG, a German provider of mobile technology and marketing solutions, for $7.2 million in cash and NeoMedia shares

London-based Sponge, a developer of mobile applications and content delivery, for $17.4 million, including $6 million in cash and the remainder in NeoMedia shares

Lexington, Massachusetts-based Mobot, a pioneer in mobile visual recognition technology

Signing LOI to acquire Essex, Connecticut HipCricket, a provider of custom mobile marketing solutions to broadcasters and brand marketers

The main drive behind NeoMedia’s acquisition strategy is to push its mobile marketing business. The company is versatile, though, offering a variety of mobile enterprise solutions, including expertise in homeland security and e-authentication applications. The guess here is that translating its contents delivery prowess to serve more homeland security missions is only a question of time, and a short time at that.

Three years ago the company was awarded U.S. Patent 6,542,933 for a method and system of using machine-readable code, such as a bar code, or human-readable code, such as alpha or alphanumeric strings, to access information on networked computers or the Internet. The technology allows for a connection from human-or machine-readable input to generate a tailored response that can use a profile of the person making the link between the code-carrying physical object and the desired electronic information.

-read more about NeoMedia at company Web site; and read an outline of its business strategy in this news release