Seven bites Blackberry with Smartner buy

US corporate mobile phone messaging provider Seven Networks is expanding into Europe by buying Finland-based Smartner Information Systems, a concession to the Blackberry's conquering of the North America's work force.

The acquisition vaults Seven past Good Technologies and into second place behind Research In Motion in supplying mobile phone access to work email, said Seven Chairman Bill Nguyen. Financial details of Seven's first-ever acquisition weren't disclosed.

Smartner supplies wireless messaging through dozens of major mobile phone operators in more than a dozen European nations, and the combined entity will work with 45 major operator partners. Both Seven and Smartner are privately held.

Seven is looking for growth overseas because RIM's Blackberry has gobbled up most of the US market for mobile office email, with Good Technologies picking up most of the remainder. Seven's traction on its home continent is a disappointing third, try as it might with offerings of low-cost Cingular Wireless and Sprint mobile phone access to Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes and other popular work email systems.

Seven first managed a foothold, some years ago, in Asia to supply premium email to handsets through NTT DoCoMo and KDDI in Japan and SingTelGroup in Singapore.

Europe is next, representing great promise and peril for any newcomer. Seven's $10- to $20-a-month premium messaging service will compete with scores of other more established competitors, but the payoff may be huge. The average European mobile phone consumer is apt to use premium messaging services.

"You can't be a successful contender to RIM if you don't have a global view," Nguyen said. "We didn't want to risk developing our own service; Americans don't really understand other mobile phone markets. The Blackberry in Japan makes no sense."

Ben Charny writes for CNET News.com.