Mobile Internet publisher Cellfish Media LLC has bought mobile app publisher Airborne Mobile in a sign of further consolidation within the industry.

The deal will lead to the creation of the Airborne Studios, combining Cellfish?s original content publishing work with Airborne?s distribution of brands. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

?It?s acknowledging that marketing matters for app developers and publishers,? said Fabrice Sergent, CEO of Cellfish Media Group, New York. ?We think that Cellfish knowhow can bring a lot to Airborne?s partners.

?Today there are hundreds of thousands of app developers, but very much less in the marketing of them,? he said. ?We feel it?s time for attracting more apps publishers under one roof in order to gain marketing power and reach out to consumers.

?Airborne is a pioneer in the mobile publishing industry, brings a roster of over 100 major brands with whom they?ve been working for years. That will enable us to expand in the branded application sector in the U.S.?

Airborne has landed
Airborne Studios will create and distribute branded mobile content and applications including NFL team logos, CollegeHumor, Family Guy, FHM, Food Network and Betty Boop.

Per Cellfish, Airborne Studios? content catalog comprises 35,000 pieces of content through 110 licensing partners. It has also recorded 40 million downloads of graphics, music and games, and 4 million downloads of applications through 20 wireless carriers and app stores nationwide and in Canada.

?In this app world discovery is a big problem with hundreds of thousands of apps,? Mr. Sergent said. ?Obviously, we want to help brands and facilitate content discovery on the phone.?

Airborne?s management has departed to focus on a new interactive television network called TXT.TV. A team of 15 business development executives and developers have stayed behind at Airborne.

?Generally speaking, Airborne is one of the few companies in the space that have transitioned from feature phones to smartphones ? in other words, they?ve taken their license partners from feature phones to smartphones, which is a fast-growing market,? Mr. Sergent said.

More deals to fly
Cellfish claims revenue of more than $100 million, owned partly by France?s defense-to-media giant Lagardere and Canadian private equity groups. It claims more than 14 million clients and includes operations in Canada, France and Germany as well as the United States.

The company is open to more deals such as the Airborne purchase.

?We?re open to discussions with other applications publishers for distribution or acquisition,? Mr. Sergent said.

Final Take
Mickey Alam Khan is editor in chief of Mobile Marketer
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