Motorola Buys Zecter to Drive Motoblur Growth

Motorola snapped up virtual media storage maker Zecter, moving to bolster its Motoblur service and drive growth ahead of its split next month into Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions, the company announced Wednesday.

With Zecter's on-demand synchronization and streaming technologies, Motorola Mobility plans to offer users the capability to access their photos, video, music and documents online in real-time, even if they aren't stored on their devices. Motorola (MOT) plans to integrate Zecter's technology into its mobile devices and Motoblur service.

Faced with intense competition from the likes of Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and other Android-based smart phones, Motorola is relying on its Motoblur service as one way to differentiate its smart phones. That differentiation will become even more important next month, when Motorola splits the company in two and Motorola Mobility becomes a stand-alone company.

Sponsored Links

"Consumers want seamless access to their content and media from wherever they are, while content providers want to ensure that content remains protected and secure," Christy Wyatt, Motorola Mobility's corporate vice president of software and services, said in a statement. "We believe that Zecter enables that seamless experience with the necessary security measures, and we are delighted to be able to work with this team."

Zecter currently has two products out in the market, its ZumoDrive for accessing and syncing content in the clouds via virtual storage and its ZumoCast for streaming personal media on any device. During the Motorola integration, ZumoCast users can still access the service but distribution of the software will be on hold until enhancements are made, Motorola said.

Shares of Motorola inched up 2% to $9.18 a share in intraday trading, hitting a new 52-week high. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.