Leap Wireless International Inc. said this week that it acquired customized e-mail newsletter publisher Backwire and will create a wireless data service around the company's products.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Leap Wireless, San Diego, expects to complete the Backwire acquisition by the end of April. It plans to integrate the company's products with its location-based myAladdin wireless technology. The company said its personalized mobile media delivery service can distribute targeted content by voice as well as text.
Harvey White, Leap Wireless' chairman/CEO, said the Backwire acquisition as well as two other recent data-related acquisitions will give the company “the building blocks to develop a very simple, intuitive service that provides information to consumers the way they like it best — by voice.”
The company plans to offer its new mobile media service in selected markets in the first half of this year. Leap Wireless said it designed the new service to deliver quick voice clips directly to the customer's wireless phone and plans to target different messages to customers depending on their location, time of day and preferences.
