MobUI raises funding acquires Action Engine

Shriek. Anne Baker offered me a pre-brief on this and because of my stressful week I didn’t take notice until now.
What happened?

Well – you know that Anne Baker is the ex SVP Marketing of Action Engine and now the boss of her own PR agency? Well – her ex-company has been purchased by her latest client!

What?

MobUI Corporation, a mobile application development company dedicated to mobilizing content companies at the speed of wow™, today announced it has raised funding and acquired Action Engine Corporation, a mobile application platform company whose customers include AOL, The Wall Street Journal.com, MarketWatch.com, Barron’s.com, MSNBC.com, Sports Illustrated, Golf.com, and TiVo. MobUI plans to use the funds, along with Action Engine’s patented technology, to deliver upon the company’s mission to rapidly create beautiful iPhone, mobile Web, and downloadable applications for major consumer brands. The round of funding was led by GlobalNET Mobile Solutions, a leading wireless application services provider in Latin America. The terms of the Action Engine acquisition were not announced.
From the press release:
 “We founded MobUI because content companies have a ‘need for speed’ in the mobile application development process,” said John Burry, Founder and CEO of MobUI. “By uniting our team of mobile development experts with Action Engine’s proven mobile application technology and top tier customer list, MobUI has assembled the tools necessary to get today’s top consumer brands into the mobile market fast. We are here to build the mobile experiences that consumers desire in the timeframes the top content companies demand.”
“MobUI’s vision is right for this time,” said Juan Francisco Saavedra Plata, CEO of GlobalNET Mobile Solutions. “From the Apple App Store to Google’s Android Market, mobile application initiatives are intensifying and MobUI has assembled all the tools necessary to accelerate the growth of this market. Proven technology, an impressive team, and the expanding use of wireless applications made this investment in MobUI a clear decision for us as we extend our services beyond Latin America.”

MobUI, founded by Pacific Northwest mobile industry veterans, speeds time to market by segmenting large mobile projects into separate micro-efforts. Using their ‘speed of wow’ development approach, MobUI slices projects into multiple, bite-sized deliveries which shorten the mobile development cycle and place prototypes in their customers’ hands sooner. This enables their content company customers to provide feedback earlier and wireless consumers to enjoy beautiful mobile experiences faster.

What we think?
Am I the only one to thing that this is all a bit fast and strange? I knew Action Engine was having a tough time. It like every other mobile on device portal company has been finding it hard to maintain growth and compete efficiently.

I don’t know the full details and I missed a briefing with MobiUI at CTIA –but will get another one shortly.