Apple buys up Quattro Wireless

APPLE IS apparently set to snap up the mobile advertising firm Quattro Wireless for $275 million.

Not content with the growing levels of competition with Google over things like Chromium and Android, the buy will see the Cappuccino company enter a new arena following Google's recent purchase of Quattro's rival Admob for a whopping $750 million.

The deal comes as some slight recompense to the fruit-themed computer and gadget flogger, which was rumoured to be trying to buy Admob before Google pipped it to the post with a better offer. That deal is still jumping through legal hoops with the FTC investigating the impact it would have on the market.

With Apple's comfortable Iphone revenue sharing deals almost certainly taking a bit of a dent with the device being opened up to more and more networks, the income from injecting ads into applications could turn into a nice little side earner.

Rumours about the deal have been flying around all day and were just confirmed by Quattro vice president, Andy Miller.

In a post on the company bog, Miller wrote: "We are thrilled to let you know that Apple has acquired Quattro. We want to share with you our excitement about this news and what it means for our customers.

We have built our business by enabling advertisers to reach the right consumers across the mobile web and in applications. We remain focused on delivering more engaging, relevant and useful ads to mobile devices, and improving the measurement and execution of digital campaigns. Together with Apple, we look forward to developing exciting new opportunities in the future that will benefit our customers."

Miller went on to stress that the company will still operate across all networks and devices, rather than just being restricted to Apple platforms. µ