The computer company is trying to make sure it has a solid foothold in mobile as consumer attention increasingly turns towards mobile devices, and while the Android-based Padfone is already two generations old, and sells in countries across the European and Asia Pacific markets, the company has yet to make its presence felt in the crowded North American mobile space.
SmartReply, itself founded in 2001, was looking for ways to expand its foothold in mobile marketing and likely benefited from the current economic downturn to snap up the mobile advertising startup at a reasonable price.
To get a foothold in mobile e-commerce, Alpha Animation bought 51 Pocket, an online game developer, and 5agame, a mobile phone game developer, for a combined $113 million in October 2013.
Wanelo seems to have the attention of a younger demographic — particularly women — and has a strong foothold in mobile.
America Movil Spends $1.59 Billion to Lift Stake in KPN | The Mexican mobile operator extended its foothold in Europe after it paid $1.59 billion to increase its stake in the Dutch telecommunications company KPN to 20.9 percent.
Thomas Seifert recently became interim chief executive, replacing Dirk Meyer, who resigned Jan . 10over a dispute with the board on A.M.D.'s efforts to regain market share in servers and a foothold in mobile computing.
For Mr. Ergen, the chairman of both Dish and EchoStar who has a reputation as a firebrand executive, LightSquared is part of a strategy to gain a foothold in mobile data as Dish's satellite TV subscription numbers slow.
To toast the occasion, Mr. Zuckerberg wrote a lengthy post on his personal Facebook page, calling the transaction an "important milestone" for the company, which has been eager to get a stronger foothold in mobile apps.
For PayPal, getting a foothold in mobile is critical to the future of its business.
And Facebook has been on the lookout for startups that could potentially help it gain a greater foothold on mobile devices.
