Handango, the numero uno store to go to for all things Windows Mobile, has been acquired by PocketGear. This came as a surprise considering Handango is a well known provider of WinMo apps & games for most of the techies out there. In fact, almost all of the PDAs & smartphones in the market the likes of HTC, HP, Motorola, Dopod, Eten, Samsung, LG & not forgetting Sony Ericsson would benefit from the downloads of software made available over at the Handango website (for a fee, of course).

However, for the uninitiated, Handango has been fervently promoting their apps & games via incessantly frequent sale of “20% Off!”, “For Today Only!”, “Get Pocket Informant for 50% Off Retail!” via their dedicated newsletters to opt-in subscribers. This is a clear departure from their previous marketing strategy of very RARE sale, before the Apple App Store came along. So, for obvious reasons, today’s acquisition by PocketGear must indeed be to salvage whatever is left of Handango in order to better compete with the Apple’s App Store in the near future.

We’ll be keeping a close watch on this one. The following are excerpts from the Handango Developer Newsletter that we received earlier today:

Please continue interact and upload your content to Handango as you have in the past. As we are able to consolidate systems and processes, we will let you know of any changes and/or new opportunities. Your payment for January Handango WILL BE PAID BY POCKETGEAR.

Due to the timing of the transaction, there WILL BE A DELAY IN THIS ROYALTY PAYMENT AS WE WORK THROUGH THE TRANSFER OF YOUR PAYMENT INFORMATION FROM HANDANGO TO POCKETGEAR. Both teams are working to address royalty payments as quickly as possible in order to minimize the delay and make the transition as smooth as possible. We appreciate your patience as we work through the transition of this acquisition and ultimately strive to enhance your Developer experience.

We’re excited and believe that the combined entity will be able to provide many additional benefits to developers.

- PocketGear’s App Store supports 2,000+ mobile devices and every major OS platform
- Over 140,000+ paid and free titles from 32,000+ developers
- Customers in 175+ countries are downloading apps from PocketGear
- PocketGear and Handango are the two largest independent app stores and combined to date have generated over $400 million in mobile application revenuesÂ
- PocketGear powers over 40 storefront and distribution partners, including 4 of the world’s top 5 handset manufacturers, 4 of the top 5 mobile operators in the US, 3 of the top 10 mobile operators globally, and leading media and ecommerce companies including Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Research in Motion, and Verizon Wireless.

Sincerely,
The Handango Team

Past article | April 1st, 2009: Is Handango feeling the pinch of the App Store?