Microsoft buys mobile solutions startup Danger

Microsoft agreed to buy cell phone software maker Danger, strengthening its position in consumer mobile phones and building its defenses against a major Google initiative, an Associated Press report said.

The Associated Press report said the deal was announced as another, bigger attempt to stymie Google hit a roadblock. Yahoo's board on Monday officially rejected Microsoft's multibillion dollar buyout offer, saying it undervalues the company.

Danger, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based company, builds web browsing, messaging, social networking and other software for mobile devices. The vast majority of its revenue, $50.6 million in 2007, comes from selling its technology to a single client, T-Mobile USA for its Sidekick phones, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the report said.

The companies did not disclose financial details of the deal.

Danger announced plans to go public in December 2007, shortly after Google revealed a new cell phone software package of its own called Android, backed by major phone manufacturers and wireless operators and freely available to programmers, the report further said.