Qualcomm has acquired Ireland-based content discovery and recommendation startup Xiam Technologies Ltd. for US$32 million. With the acquisition, which is part of Qualcomm's drive into the service sector, the San Diego-based chip maker also wins some key European mobile operator accounts including Vodafone Ireland, O2 Ireland and Orange UK. Xiam's flagship product, My Personal Offers System (MPOS), enables mobile operators to target content offers in real-time to their customers based on customers' profile information. This capability can help operators boost content sales, such as full-track music downloads, games, or ringtones, and also improve their customers' experience by presenting them with content that is tailored to their personal tastes. Another application for Xiam's MPOS is mobile advertising, an area of growing interest to European mobile operators. Qualcomm plans to integrate the MPOS technology into its BREW solution for mobile operators and BrandXtend solution, which is aimed at brands and media companies. Qualcomm has been building up its services business through acquisitions over the last few years, purchasing Trigenix in 2004, Elata in 2005 and more recently Firethorn, a mobile banking company.
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