Myriad is based in Switzerland and supplies a wide range of mobile software, including browsers, messaging tools and multimedia applications, to carriers and handset makers. The company claims 2.5 billion mobile users rely on its software. Following the acquisition of Synchronica, Myriad will see its software installed on more than 100 million new devices each year.

Openwave, which pioneered the WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) used in the early days of mobile data, will rename itself Unwired Planet and focus on intellectual property after the transaction. The company will remain publicly traded. It owns about 200 issued patents and has about 75 patents pending, according to a press release. Marlin Equity Partners, based in Hermosa Beach, California, said it would invest in both Openwave Mobility and Openwave Messaging to keep delivering software to their customers.

The IDG News Service