Useful Networks, leading enablers of compelling location-based services (LBS) for mobile phones, announces today the acquisition of Canada-based KnowledgeWhere, a premier provider of location-aware mobile games, location-based advertising (LBA) and developer-enablement programs.
Founded in April 2003, KnowledgeWhere is best known for developing award-winning platform technology to power location-based mobile entertainment products, such as games, social networking and lifestyle applications.
Useful Networks is an international enabler of LBS applications like sniff(TM) (social network integrated friend finder), a permission-based application that lets consumers locate their friends in real-time, anytime and anywhere with their mobile phone or from social networks such as Facebook. This cross-carrier service was released in Scandinavia in November 2007 and in the United Kingdom in May 2008, with a U.S. launch slated for later this year.
"We are very excited to be incorporating the vision, technology and products of KnowledgeWhere into the Useful Networks portfolio of location-based services," said Useful Networks CEO Brian Levin. "KnowledgeWhere's access to great technology and their long tenure in location aware advertising and gaming complement our portfolio of services nicely."
"The decision to move forward with Useful Networks will undoubtedly provide both companies with more resources, technology and development," said Jim George, founder and CEO of KnowledgeWhere. "We are pleased and excited to be a part of the Useful Networks family."
KnowledgeWhere's Location Application Platform (LAP) technology continues to power award-winning and industry leading location-based games including Swordfish(TM) and PhoneTag Elite(TM). More recently, KnowledgeWhere has extended LAP to deliver measurable location-based advertising campaigns, leveraging its unique suite of privacy-managed LBA products and tools.
Together, Useful Networks and KnowledgeWhere aim to combine their applications and technology to provide best-in-class LBS solutions for consumers, carriers and advertisers alike.
For more information on Useful Networks and its unique location aware applications, visit www.useful-networks.com.
About Useful Networks
Useful Networks is a Denver-based company that delivers innovative mobile location technology products to end users via the Internet and mobile carriers. Founded in July 2006, Useful Networks powers cross-carrier location aggregation for both carriers and content providers. Their platform helps carriers reduce costs, time to market and complexity in launching location aware products. Useful Networks is a privately held subsidiary of Liberty Media. Liberty Media Corporation owns interests in a broad range of electronic retailing, media, communications and entertainment businesses. Those interests are attributed to three tracking stock groups: the Liberty Interactive group, which includes Liberty's interests in QVC.com, Provide Commerce, Backcountry.com, BUYSEASONS, Bodybuilding.com, IAC/InterActiveCorp, and Expedia, the Liberty Entertainment Group, which includes Liberty's interests in the DIRECTV Group, Inc., Starz Entertainment, FUN Technologies, Inc., GSN, LLC, Wildblue Communications, Inc., and Liberty Sports Holdings LLC, and the Liberty Capital group, which includes all businesses, assets and liabilities not attributed to the Interactive Group or the Entertainment Group including our subsidiaries Starz Media, LLC, Atlanta National League Baseball Club, Inc., and TruePosition, Inc., and minority equity investments in Time Warner Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corporation. For more information, please see www.libertymedia.com.
About KnowledgeWhere Inc.
Calgary, Canada-based KnowledgeWhere Inc. is a leading provider of location-based software and middleware solutions that deliver privacy-managed, location-enabled content and applications for the mobile entertainment and advertising sectors. The company's purpose-built, location-centric products are supported by an array of technologies that are driving the location-based industry. For more information on KnowledgeWhere, visit knowledgewhere.com.