Motorola snags Aloqa to put location-aware mobile content in plain sight

Motorola has acquired location-based service search developer and darling of MobileBeat 2009 Aloqa for an undisclosed chunk of change to enhance its factory-shipped MOTOBLUR phone user interface with location-based push content.

The technology will allow Motorola phones to push content — such as App data or even advertising — to users wherever they happen to be walking or driving at the time.

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Motorola has been on a bit of a shopping trip lately, picking up app development platform 280 North in August to ramp up its app-delivery platform. The move came at a time when Apple and Google have clearly dominated the app-delivery marketplace with the App Store and Android Marketplace.

The phone manufacturer is in a bit of a sweet spot with the popularity of its Droid series of Android phones, but like other manufacturers faces the task of differentiating its “flavor” of Android from others. Using Aloqa’s technology to enhance its MOTOBLUR interface could easily be another move to separate its phones from the rest of the pack.

Aloqa will become a part of Motorola Mobility, which Motorola plans to spin off into a separate company that handles cell phones and set-top boxes in the first quarter of 2011. The company raised $1.5 million in 2009 in a round led by Wellington Partners and other angel investors.

[Photo: Ed Yourdon]