Two cellphone technology firms in area acquired
Two Boston-area start-ups that develop very different applications for cellphones said yesterday they were to be acquired by larger companies, in deals that reflect broader trends in the mobile industry.
Burlington speech recognition company Nuance Communications Inc. said it would buy VoiceSignal Technologies Inc., a Woburn company that provides speech-enabled services for cellphones for $293 million.
Meanwhile, Boston mobile advertising company Third Screen Media Inc. was acquired by AOL for an undisclosed price.
Both deals illustrate changes taking place throughout the industry , said Jill Aldort, senior analyst for consumer mobility applications at Yankee Group.
This month, Microsoft Corp. said it would acquire ScreenTonic SA, a European company that, like Third Screen, brings ads to the cellphone screen.
Mobile marketing is widely seen as a huge space for potential growth, with the US mobile ad industry projected to grow from $421 million in 2006 to $4.7 billion by 2011, according to research firm eMarketer.
On the other end of the phone, the idea of using voice as a way to input text is growing as a potentially powerful way of giving people new access to online content on their phones.
Voice-enabled technology could help people search the mobile Internet, send e-mails, or search catalog s of ringtones or games without hitting their keypads hundreds of times.
Paul Ricci , chief executive of Nuance, said the VoiceSignal acquisition made sense because it will consolidate the companies' complementary products and broaden their reach. Nuance expects to deploy its technology, which has potential applications for everything from e-mail dictation to voice-enabled search, on a billion phones over the next three years.
"Nuance and VoiceSignal are both focused on the opportunity to improve the mobile consumer's ability to use his or her phone to access information on the Web and to improve communications," Ricci said. "Our combined technical resources will allow us to accelerate our innovation."
Jeff Janer , chief marketing officer of Third Screen Media, said that his company will retain its name and will become a subsidiary of AOL's Advertising.com division.
Aldort noted that AOL has long had a presence on mobile phones with its instant messaging client, and said that the deal would allow them to move aggressively into mobile advertising.
"AOL is one of only four at-scale advertising businesses on the Internet," Randy Falco , chairman and chief executive of AOL, said in a statement.
"The acquisition of Third Screen Media gives us a very strong position in the fast-growing mobile space."
Carolyn Y. Johnson can be reached at cjohnson@globe.com. 
