28 September 2009

Nokia Acquires Social
Networking Travel Startup Dopplr?

As Michael Arrington of TechCrunch reported, rumors are flying that Nokia has struck the buyout bell once again. This time, its Dopplr, one of the hot commodities from the Silicon Roundabout in London.

Dopplr is what you call a social networking travel site. Never heard of those? Its a relatively new space, so its not so easy to explain what they do, but basically, they allow you to share travel plans, give tips based on what you may like doing while abroad based on recommendations from friends, and see which friends live in or near your travel destinations. Its a real great service for business or frequent travellers, and has a passionate though still small following, indicative of its startup status.

Dana Oshiro of ReadWriteWeb seems to see this move as a way to beef up its recently acquired Plazes team in Germany, drawn by its system of location based reviews. The two services are similar, but have different focuses, so they should complement each other if the acquisition rumors are even true.

Nokia is rumored to have paid $15-22 million for the Dopplr service, and plans to implement it into its Ovi services suite in the future. Much of the Dopplr team are former Nokia employees. The CEO and cofounder, Marko Ahtisaari was formerly the Director of Design Strategy at Nokia. So there is already familiarity with the Dopplr Team.

What isn't clear, besides if this is even true, is how this affects the Dopplr service. There is already a Doppler Social Atlas application for the iPhone, which is ironic, since Nokia doesn't yet offer any of its services on the popular Cupertino caller. Whether the service continues as is, combined with Plazes, or merged with the rest of the Ovi service umbrella remains to be seen. We'll just have to keep an eye on developments until more information becomes available. I'll keep you posted.

It's official now: Nokia and Dopplr announced today that Nokia has acquired Dopplr Oy, a privately-held mobile service provider for international travelers. Dopplr has a team of seven people with offices in London and Helsinki. The Dopplr team brings to Nokia's Services unit unique know-how in creating internet-based communities and showing their journeys, experiences and tastes collectively on the web.

The acquisition does not change the current Dopplr service which is available at Dopplr.com and on platforms where Dopplr is integrated.