Apple acquires mobile advertiser Quattro Wireless

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc. is looking to improve its place in the market for mobile advertising following its acquisition Tuesday of Quattro Wireless, a developer of wireless advertising networks.

Quattro Chief Executive Andy Miller made the announcement in a posting on the company’s corporate blog.
Miller said the Quattro wireless network would continue to operate
“across all devices and platforms” following the Apple acquisition.

As part of the deal, Miller will become vice president of mobile advertising at Apple.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but earlier reports valued the acquisition at $275 million. Quattro is privately held and based in Waltham, Mass.

The move may put Apple into more competition against Google Inc., which in November acquired AdMob, a competitor to Quattro, for $750 million. Additionally, Google
was scheduled to hold an event at its headquarters Tuesday to unveil
more details about its Nexus One phone, the first mobile phone designed
by the company’s engineers.

Apple’s deal for Quattro represents a small buying
spree for the company. In mid-December, Apple acquired streaming music
provider Lala as part of an effort to beef up its iTunes music service.
That move was seen as possibly providing technology behind an
anticipated Apple tablet PC that is expected to launch early this year.

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