Apple challenges Google by acquiring mobile ad firm Quattro Wireless

Apple Inc has mounted a renewed challenge to Google's online advertising business with the acquisition of mobile advertising company Quattro Wireless yesterday for an undisclosed sum.

The Cupertino, California-based Apple had made the acquisition in late November but kept the acquisition under wraps and as usual did not disclose the sale price, but a figure of $275 million being the cost of the acquisition is being widely quoted by the media.

Andy Miller, the CEO of Waltham, Massachusetts-based Quattro said in a blog posting yesterday, "We are thrilled to let you know that Apple has acquired Quattro. For now, the offerings and services you receive from Quattro Wireless will not change."

Miller said that he will become Apple's vice president of mobile advertising and report directly to Apple's chief executive, Steve Jobs.

Waltham, Massachusetts-based Quattro, a start up firm, which has raised about $28 million from venture capital firms Highland Capital Partners and Globespan Capital Partners creates and places advertisements for major consumer brands that appear on the Web browsers of Internet-connected devices like smartphones.

Quattro, which has more than doubled its employee strength from 70 to about 150 in the last year, has clients like Ford Motors, Procter & Gamble, Walt Disney, Visa, Microsoft and others. Its network partners include Time, Gawker, Univision and CBS Interactive, according to the company's website.