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View Full Version : SyBase To Aquire Avantgo


Ed Hansberry
12-20-2002, 05:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/2100-1001-978554.html?tag=fd_top' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/2100-1001-97855...html?tag=fd_top</a><br /><br /></div>"Sybase will acquire mobile communications company AvantGo in a deal worth around $38 million, the companies said Friday. 'Today's announcement is an important part of iAnywhere Solutions' strategic plans to fuel new growth in the mobile and wireless arena,' Sybase CEO John Chen said in a release."<br /><br />Hrm.... I guess we'll have to wait and see if this is good news, bad new or no news for mobile device users. I guess the consumer product needs to start showing a bit of revenue. Start clicking on those ads in Avantgo folks! :wink:

Mike Temporale
12-20-2002, 05:42 PM
Sybase? They're still around 8O ??

Where did they come up with $38 mil??

Janak Parekh
12-20-2002, 05:47 PM
Sybase databases are still around everywhere. Many organizations, when they pick a solution, are reluctant to switch.

Call me a skeptic, though, about Sybase's ability to leverage AvantGo to the next level.

--janak

JonnoB
12-20-2002, 05:59 PM
It will be interesting to see if Sybase can make the switch from a slow-moving database market to a very fast moving/ever changing mobile device business model.

mghannigan
12-20-2002, 07:06 PM
I wish AvantGo would test some sort of pay-for-content type of service. I use AvantGo like a newspaper subscription and I'd be really sorry for Sybase to drop the consumer market.

A la Mazingo, I'd definitely be willing to pay for the 1 hour+ I spend daily reading synched AvantGo articles--for a nominal fee.

Foo Fighter
12-20-2002, 07:40 PM
I wish AvantGo would test some sort of pay-for-content type of service.

They are now. I'm a paying subscriber myself. for a nominal fee ($19 per year), you get extra storage capacity. 8mb instead of the default 2mb.

Alas...I don't think AvantGo will continue to exist as we know it today. Sybase will role up AvantGo Mobile into a strictly enterprise service and leave all of us orphans. :cry:

karen
12-20-2002, 07:44 PM
It will be interesting to see if Sybase can make the switch from a slow-moving database market to a very fast moving/ever changing mobile device business model.

Sybase also owns PowerBuilder, one of the more popular (at least a few years ago) development evironments. They haven't been just a database company for a long time.

K

Paragon
12-20-2002, 08:08 PM
See here's my problem I have never been able to figure out how to sell a money loosing business with questionable future for 38 million dollars.

The idea of providing content such as Avantgo does seems like a good idea. There just seems to be something missing. Most of what Avantgo provides is available elswhere. They consolidate everything for you. It needs to provide something you can't get elsewhere. I'm not sure what that is so I didn't spend my 38 million on it...yet. If I ever do you never know you may see ParaGOn. :)

Dave

Mike Temporale
12-20-2002, 08:20 PM
Sybase databases are still around everywhere. Many organizations, when they pick a solution, are reluctant to switch.


Over the last 4 years, I have been to many companies that are moving off Sybase, and NONE that are moving to it. I'm not talking about small organizations either. I'm talking large Assurance companies, and Financial Institutions.

Mike Temporale
12-20-2002, 08:23 PM
Sybase also owns PowerBuilder, one of the more popular (at least a few years ago) development evironments. They haven't been just a database company for a long time.

K

Really. I didn't know that PowerBuilder was there product. Interesting.

Well, maybe they can make a go of it. It'll be interesting to see the outcome. It almost smells like a Corel thing all over again. Here you have a company that's doing reasonably well in one area (PowerBuilder, not SQL) and they buy up another totaly unrelated line that's failing to turn a profit. :roll:

noxs
12-20-2002, 09:35 PM
Not that I care too much about Sybase but it is still worth mentioning that they do have iAnywhere which is a very mature mobile development environment

fireflyrsmr
12-21-2002, 10:47 PM
ok i'm confused. :? I thought avantgo went out of business. people were asking on this site how to get it out of their machines. yes? the replys here seem to indicate that there was some way to continue getting content.


i've been disappointed with mazingo since they have started to emphasis the video. is there an alternative way to get downloads pushed to my machine during sync? i too have been using it as a great newspaper like experience. great since i pick specifically the content. that video thing is a near total waste of bandwidth.

JonnoB
12-21-2002, 10:51 PM
i've been disappointed with mazingo since they have started to emphasis the video. is there an alternative way to get downloads pushed to my machine during sync? i too have been using it as a great newspaper like experience. great since i pick specifically the content. that video thing is a near total waste of bandwidth.

Video is a premium service... you can get just the text content. I have the premium service, but download only a few important news related things with it (no movies, tv shows, etc)

Janak Parekh
12-21-2002, 11:07 PM
Over the last 4 years, I have been to many companies that are moving off Sybase, and NONE that are moving to it. I'm not talking about small organizations either. I'm talking large Assurance companies, and Financial Institutions.
That was my point: Sybase has been riding on the piles of customers who are still buying upgrades for the existing platform. There are more of those than you'd think.

NetWare and OS/2 are two other products that come to mind in this category: while the number of people adopting the platform is minimal, enough companies have the product to maintain its existence.

Really. I didn't know that PowerBuilder was there product. Interesting.
I believe they bought it out a couple years ago. Unfortunately (unsurprisingly?) its popularity has tanked.

--janak

wm5051
12-27-2002, 11:34 PM
fireflyrsmr,

AvantGO is still in business and still functioning.

There was a minor business dispute between Jason and AvantGo and for a while you could not get pocketpcthoughts via AvantGo (talk to Jasonif you want to know more on this matter).

A few new content syncing products have also become available and some users have switched or use a combination of them.

If you want to use AvantGo you can go to their Website, create an account and download the software. It is still free for end users.