Mobile app analytics rivals
Flurry and Pinch Media have announced they are merging with the aim of consolidating leadership in the space as the app market takes off. By combining, the companies say they will cover 80% of iPhone
and iPod touch devices and two-thirds of Android phones.
The merged company will adopt the Flurry name in the first quarter of 2010 and will maintain offices in San Francisco and New York.
"Flurry has long since admired Pinch Media's leadership in iPhone analytics and monetization, and is proud to join forces with such an accomplished team," said Flurry President and CEO Simon
Khalaf, who will lead the combined company, in a statement.
The success of Apple's App Store, which offers more than 100,000 titles and boasts 2 billion downloads, has triggered an app explosion
across devices and operating systems including Android, BlackBerry, Microsoft and Nokia. A recent forecast from ABI Research predicts the 2.9 billion mobile apps downloaded in 2009 will increase to 5
billion in 2014.
By pairing up, Flurry and Pinch hope to dominate app measurement from an early stage of the industry's growth.
A FAQ about the merger on the Flurry Web site assured that historical usage data from both companies would be migrated to a single platform and
that the analytics service would continue to be free. It also indicated that developers would be able to log into existing accounts to access the service without disruption.
"Once the
integration is complete, we'll be spending our time building systems that leverage our analytics data to help developers make more money, projects we've wanted to do for some time," stated a post on the Pinch Media blog.
Customers of either company's service will have access to new features, including Flurry's
tracking of Android and BlackBerry devices and Pinch's ability to report on app usage on jailbroken versus regular iPhones. The companies also plan to add new analytics features after merging
operations.
New York-based Pinch has received seed venture backing from investors including Union Square Ventures, First Round Capital and veteran Internet entrepreneur Dave Morgan. San
Francisco-based Flurry has $3.5 million in first-round financing from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Borealis Ventures.