Motricity Sells PocketGear Business to Its Own Co-Founder

Jud Bowman, a co-founder of Motricity, announced today that he has acquired the smartphone applications business from Motricity, which includes PocketGear and the former PalmGear and Smartphone.net websites. Bowman along with venture capital firms Noro-Moseley Partners and Wakefield Group are financing the deal and the creation of a new venture around the businesses called PocketGear.

PocketGear claims a network of more than 30,000 developers and 50,000 mobile applications. PocketGear powers smartphone application distribution for direct channels including PocketGear.com and storefronts for its partners including Palm, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, T-Online, and AOL.

Prior to being named chief technology officer for Motricity, Bowman was co-founder and chief executive officer of Pinpoint Networks, which merged with PowerByHand in 2004 to form Motricity. Bowman was instrumental in leading the integration of PowerByHand and Pinpoint Networks and in raising $400 million of venture capital and growing Motricity to more than $100 million in annual revenues and 500 employees globally.

In March of this year, Motricity announced a significant reduction in its workforce and a shift in corporate strategy. The company has also made public its intention to discontinue "non-profitable and non-core businesses" including the planned divestiture of Pocketgear.com.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. In conjunction with the closing of the transaction, Bowman has resigned his position on the Motricity board of directors.

"The divestiture of our smartphone and direct-to-consumer businesses supports Motricity's commitment to continue to strengthen our focus on our core business of providing mobile content infrastructure and services for the leading global mobile operators," said Ryan Wuerch, chairman and chief executive officer of Motricity. "The direct-to-consumer business was part of the foundation of Motricity and has strong potential for continued growth. However, it is no longer aligned with the strategic focus of the company.

"This transaction will enable many of the same employees that have worked with this part of Motricity for years to continue to operate the business. Jud played such an integral role in Motricity's success and I'm confident he'll have the same success with PocketGear," Wuerch added.