Sybase has acquired German mobile payments operator paybox for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition of Paybox presents Sybase with an entree into the expanding mobile payments arena, and follows on from a partnership agreement signed between the two firms in November last year.
A privately held company headquartered in Raunheim, Germany, paybox will be integrated into Sybase 365, the firm's wholly-owned mobile commerce subsidiary. Established in 2007, the Sybase365 product suite enables banks to interact with customers in real-time through mobile alerts, two-way banking services, out-of-band authentication, and marketing campaigns.
Founded in 1999, paybox set up operator-led, national mobile payment standards in Germany and Austria and collaborates with mobile operators worldwide, including Vodafone and o2 in Germany, mobilkom and ONE in Austria, Swisscom, Vodafone Egypt,Maxis Malaysia, Mastercard Int'l, ICSL Nigeria, and Lari Exchange in the UAE. The firm claims its software is used by over five million end users and over 20.000 merchants across Europe, America, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Marty Beard, president of Sybase 365, says: "The sheer number of people with access to a mobile phone in both developed and emerging markets around the world, means the mobile device has the potential to become a dominant vehicle for consumers to connect and transact conveniently, anytime, anywhere, fuelling the mobile economy. This acquisition extends our offerings and capabilities to enable this mobile economy."
Sybase does not expect this acquisition to have a material impact on 2009 financial results.