Nokia and OZ Communications have announced that Nokia is to acquire OZ, a privately held company with approximately 220 employees and headquartered in Montreal, Canada. OZ, a consumer mobile messaging solution provider, delivers access to popular instant messaging and email services on consumer mobile devices.
"With OZ, Nokia is renewing its mission of Connecting People by enabling consumers to easily connect and communicate using their favorite Internet communities," said Niklas Savander, Head of Nokia Services & Software. "OZ's team and technology will help Nokia to address the fast growing consumer messaging market."
By acquiring OZ, Nokia will enable easy-to-use, fast access to leading instant messaging and email services, including AOL, Gmail, ICQ, Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo!. With more than 5.5 million monthly paid users, OZ's solutions have been deployed by leading mobile operators on a wide array of mobile device platforms.
"OZ has been working closely with Nokia since 2003 – joining forces at this point is a natural extension of our partnership," said Jim Knapik, President and CEO of OZ. "We are excited about taking OZ's solutions to consumers worldwide by leveraging Nokia's devices and distribution scale."
The expertise and technology Nokia acquires through OZ is complementary to Nokia's existing portfolio of messaging solutions and will provide a complete portfolio of mobile messaging solutions for Series 40 and S60 devices. Nokia will continue to work closely with OZ's existing original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and mobile operator customers.
The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter 2008. After the closing, OZ will become part of Nokia's Services & Software operative unit.