RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – Venture-backed , which closed most of its operations in Durham and bolted for the West Coast last year, reportedly has lost its account with AT&T.
Web site Mobile-ent.biz reported Tuesday that for electronic storefront services. The decision would be “a huge blow” to privately held Motricity, reported Tim Green wrote. He described AT&T as Motricity’s “flagship account.”
Motricity, which maintains a small operation in the Triangle, also could be losing two other big providers, Cricket and Bell Canada.
Mobile-ent.biz reported that it had seen documents telling content providers that AT&T was shifting to Amdocs as part of a transition to a new “AppCenter.” The storefront will provide downloadable content and applications.
A Motricity spokesperson did not respond to Local Tech Wire’s request for comment.
Jim Ryan, who recently left AT&T to join Motricity as chief strategy and marketing officer, AT&T’s switch in an interview with MocoNews.
“I know all the folks over there and we continue to be friends,” he said. “It’s all good. The storefront is something we are aware of and something we mutually agreed on.”
Amdocs declined to comment on the possible moves and AT&T did not respond to a request for comment, MocoNews said.
In February, Motricity said it topped $100 million in revenues for 2008.
“Motricity in 2008 focused inward on our core business of powering the mobile lifestyle and exceeding the expectations of our customers, the largest mobile operators and content providers,” said Ryan Wuerch, chairman and chief executive officer of Motricity, in that announcement. “Motricity’s strong value proposition, experience and dedication to delivering value to our world-class customers have enabled us to meet and exceed our 2008 financial and operational goals. The momentum we have built up has positioned Motricity for continued exceptional growth in 2009.”
The growth came despite a year of turbulence.
Motricity eliminated 250 jobs in March 2008, most of which were among its 350 Durham employees. The moves were part of a consolidation of two companies: Motricity and the mobile information business unit of InfoSpace, which Motricity acquired for $135 million the previous year. That InfoSpace group is based in Bellevue, Wash., where Motricity moved.
According to comScore, Motricity’s mCore Platform reached 74 percent of all mobile subscribers that browsed any news or information on their mobile phones. Its client list, at least for the time being, includes: AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Alltel, TracFone Wireless, PlayPhone, CNN, FOX News, A&E and Condé Nast.
