Handango acquired by PocketGear

PocketGear has announced the acquisition of Handango, creating the world's largest cross platform, open app store and content marketplace with a catalog of more than 140,000 paid and free titles that are available for discovery and download by the more than 4 billion consumers worldwide using Android, Symbian OS, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm, Linux, and Java powered mobile devices.

PocketGear and Handango are the two largest independent app stores and combined to date have generated over $400 million in mobile application revenues from customers living in more than 175 countries and using over 2,000 unique mobile devices. The PocketGear Developer Program holds more than 32,000 developers and 40 storefront and distribution partners, including 4 of the top 5 handset manufacturers.

Upon closing, Jud Bowman will remain as President and CEO of PocketGear and Alex Bloom, current chief executive of Handango, will become Chief Operating Officer of PocketGear.

"Our vision is to facilitate an open app store ecosystem that supports every mobile device, every application, and every carrier network globally," said Jud Bowman, President and CEO of PocketGear. "By combining the two largest independent app store companies, we're creating significantly more scale and value for all of the stakeholders in the open app store ecosystem."