Village Gamer

Wi-LAN Inc. has announced that it intends to make a formal all-cash offer to acquire all the outstanding common shares of MOSAID Technologies Incorporated for approximately C$480 million. Under the terms of the Offer, WiLAN proposes to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of MOSAID (the “MOSAID Shares”) for 100% cash consideration of C$38.00 in cash per MOSAID Share.

Excluding MOSAID’s cash from its balance sheet on a dollar-for-dollar basis from the MOSAID share price, the Offer represents a premium of approximately 31.1% over the closing price of the MOSAID Shares and a premium of approximately 38.2% over the volume-weighted average trading price of the MOSAID Shares on the TSX for the 10 trading days ending on August 16, 2011. Based on the closing price of the MOSAID Shares on the TSX on August 16, 2011, the implied premiums are 21.0% and 25.3%, respectively.

In conjunction with its intention to make a formal offer for the MOSAID Shares, WiLAN is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement to sell on a bought deal basis, to a syndicate of underwriters led by Canaccord Genuity Corp. and CIBC World Markets Inc., C$200,000,000 aggregate principal amount of extendible convertible unsecured subordinated debentures (the “Debentures”), to partially finance the Offer.  At this time, WiLAN expects that certain of its management will participate in the Debenture offering.  The Company has also granted the underwriters an option, exercisable in whole or in part at any time up to 30 days following closing of the Debenture offering, to purchase up to an additional C$30 million aggregate principal amount of Debentures on the same terms.

The initial maturity date of the Debentures will be January 31, 2012, which will be extended to September 30, 2016 upon the initial take-up of MOSAID Shares by the Company pursuant to the Offer. The initial maturity date may be extended to March 31, 2012 at the Company’s discretion.  The Debentures will have an interest rate of 6.00% per annum payable semi-annually in arrears on September 30 and March 31 in each year, with the first coupon paid on the third business day following the initial take-up of MOSAID Shares. Each C$1,000 principal amount of Debentures will be convertible into approximately 108.6957 common shares of the Company at any time following the initial take-up of the MOSAID Shares, at the option of the holder, representing a conversion price of C$9.20 per common share.

On or before August 23, 2011, the Company will file with the securities commissions or other similar regulatory authorities in each of the provinces of Canada (other than Quebec), a preliminary prospectus relating to the issuance of the Debentures. Closing of the Debenture offering is expected to occur on or about September 8, 2011, subject to TSX and other necessary regulatory approvals.

The securities being offered have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and state securities laws. Accordingly, the securities may not be offered or sold to U.S. persons except pursuant to applicable exemptions from registration requirements.

Net proceeds from the Debenture offering will be used to partially fund the proposed all-cash acquisition of MOSAID and for general corporate purposes, including but not limited to transaction expenses.  The remainder of the Offer will be financed with existing cash on hand and through a C$110 million non-revolving bridge term facility from CIBC.  WiLAN intends to repay the non-revolving bridge term facility through cash on hand immediately after completion of the acquisition of MOSAID.

The MOSAID OFFER

Benefits of the Offer include:

• Creation of a Stronger, More Valuable Global Licensing Company – The creation of a strong, licensing champion with the global scope, scale and expertise to compete more effectively in more global technology markets;
• Aggregate Portfolio Value – Combining the patent portfolios will provide a more efficient and rapid path to establishing a larger and more valuable aggregate portfolio given the combined management team’s expertise and increased business scale;
• Technology, Business and Geographic Diversification – The resulting expanded product, market and geographic coverage provides technology, business and geographic diversification, significantly de-risking the combined entity and presenting greater licensing opportunities.  The combined patent portfolio of more than 4,200 patents will apply to the wireless, wireline, consumer electronics and semiconductor technologies;
• Greater Financial Strength – The combined company will have access to capital that will provide greater capacity to grow the business and demonstrate that the combined company has significant resources to enforce its patents through litigation if necessary;
• Stronger Combined Team – Combining WiLAN and MOSAID will yield a stronger team with the technical, licensing and litigation capabilities necessary to manage and grow a global licensing business. With similar cultures and both teams located in Ottawa, Ontario, the integration risk is believed to be low;
• Synergies – WiLAN anticipates retaining the vast majority of MOSAID staff but nonetheless believes there is potential for cost synergies from combining two public company infrastructures into one, as well as leveraging best practices.  These synergies are expected to total C$5 million to C$10 million per annum; and
• Accretive – The transaction is expected to be accretive to WiLAN’s adjusted earnings per share and cash flow per share in fiscal 2012.

In addition, upon the successful acquisition of 100% of the outstanding MOSAID Shares, WiLAN intends to revisit its dividend policy, with a view to increasing its existing quarterly dividend from its current level of C$0.025 per WiLAN Share.  The amount of the increase will be considered by WiLAN’s Board of Directors upon its review of the Company’s Third Quarter fiscal 2011 financial results in November 2011. Read the rest of this entry »

Montreal’s Radialpoint has announced that Garlik, Trusted ID and Xooloo have joined Radialpoint’s partner program, expanding its ecosystem of digital home services. With these new additions, Radialpoint’s technology brand customers have a new suite of monitoring services that they can provide their customers in support of the Connected Home.

“We are committed to helping our customers monetize the Connected Home opportunity, and we are pleased to be working with the leading ID Theft Monitoring, Credit Score Monitoring and Parental Control firms to continue to bring our customers the services that end-users are spending billions of dollars on today,” said Michael Wexler, Vice President Business Development and Product Strategy at Radialpoint. “With our robust ecosystem and the unique delivery of our services, Radialpoint is further demonstrating how we differentiate our offering – by providing technology brands with value-added solutions to meet the consumer need.”

As consumers become more technologically sophisticated, electronics retailers, PC OEMs, MSOs and Telco’s are looking to drive a seamless experience for their customers that is more than just tech support. With an open SaaS platform, Radialpoint brings a rich line up of in-demand consumer services to their customers; services that help these customers to generate millions of dollars in consumer spend.

With losses from ID Theft reaching $37 Billion in 2010 (according to Javelin Strategy & Research July 2011), credit score monitoring technology emerging as a viable service category, and with an increase in demand for simple, yet functional, Parental Controls, Radialpoint offers its customers improved monitoring and protection options that they can in turn offer to their customers.

“We are extremely pleased to partner our identity protection service with Radialpoint,” said Andy Thomas, Managing Director at Garlik. “Now consumers have a robust and complete Connected Home solution that they can trust especially as more people are shopping, banking and sharing personal information online.”

“With the rapid growth of identity theft, protecting your credit and personal information both online and off is extremely important,” said Scott Mitic, CEO of TrustedID. “We are delighted to be working with Radialpoint to provide these key protections as part of the Radialpoint Connected Home solution.”

“The digital-life of kids is becoming one of the hardest challenges parents today have to face because they want to make sure that they are keeping their kids out of trouble while they are online, without hindering their independence,” said Gregory Veret, President of Xooloo. “We are excited about our relationship with Radialpoint and to be included in their award winning cloud based platform. Together we provide a strategic point of control giving parents peace of mind when their kids are online.”

Earlier today Ontario Minister of Economic Development and Trade Sandra Pupatello and Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers, along with Cisco Canada President Nitin Kawale pledged support for efforts to generate a long-term investment of expertise and technology for the Province of Ontario. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed today outlines Cisco’s and the Province’s intention to cooperate in developing initiatives that will help drive key economic development goals and support technology research and development (R&D).

“Cisco is among the many global technology leaders who continue to recognize Ontario’s innovation and the talent of our highly skilled workforce,” said Minister Pupatello.  “Cisco already conducts R&D in the province in technologies critical to their success, and this investment and the MOU announced today are a vital part of our economic strategy to help Ontario turn the corner.”

Ontario and Cisco Canada intend to develop a collaborative framework to focus on key activities to help further the province’s transformational vision and increase productivity by driving innovation and sustainable economic development in strategic areas of health and wellness, energy, smart+connected communities, education and economic cluster development.

The collaboration with Cisco is the latest in Ontario’s ongoing initiatives to partner with private industry to facilitate solution innovation and commercialization, increase research and development and make better use of the province’s broadband capacity.

“Cisco and the Province of Ontario share a long and successful history. This MOU, only the third of its kind in Ontario’s history, is a next stage in our collaborative relationship focused on a shared vision of deploying transformational technology to help achieve sustainable and innovative goals,” stated Cisco Canada President Nitin Kawale. “There is enormous potential to build a solid R&D spring board in Ontario. Cisco is unique in our ability to draw upon the expertise, technology innovation and global best practices to further drive Ontario’s dynamic innovation engine.”

Ontario and Cisco also announced they intend to work together to invest in R&D-focused job development to drive skills development, economic competitiveness and product innovation. The new partnership will explore opportunities to advance strategic objectives including:

• Health & Wellness:
  • Advance the state of telemedicine and help improve access to health and wellness services for remote, rural and First Nations communities
  • Improve the state of collaboration and education for clinicians, hospitals and administrators
  • Enhance the quality and operational excellence of health and wellness services
• Energy:
  • Advance the innovative cluster of Ontario companies focused on increasing energy savings through converged solutions for security, building automation and IT services
  • Explore innovative solutions in energy management
  • Drive environmental sustainability through greater use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
• Smart+Connected Communities:
  • Promote the development of environmentally sustainable, smart+connected communities that generate economic growth and better opportunities for citizens who work and live in those intelligent communities
  • Develop innovative approaches to the cost-effective and sustainable delivery of Government services
  • Enhance opportunities for collaboration among Ontario companies through an intelligent community infrastructure
  • Identify opportunities to enhance network infrastructure to facilitate remote work and the virtual workforce
  • Utilize a living lab concept to showcase and pilot smart+connected community solutions and to encourage cities and communities in Ontario to launch similar initiatives
• Education:
  • Increase the reach of higher education and enhance industry collaboration with universities
  • Increase high-skilled job market opportunities for recent post-secondary graduates
  • Utilize Cisco® Networking Academy® programs to bring new skills to First Nations communities
• Economic Cluster Development:
  • Identify strategic partnership opportunities with economic development agencies
  • Facilitate industry collaboration on regional economic development strategies, particularly in northern communities
  • Identify opportunities to increase commercialization of early-stage ventures, and enhance funding opportunities for private enterprises
• The Ontario IT Innovation Initiative:
  • Cisco today outlined an investment target of up to $455 million over the next five years to support R&D, focused on key strategic areas for Cisco, including core routing and switching, collaboration, data centre virtualization and cloud, and video
  • Ontario has committed $25 million to this project to support Ontario’s leadership as a global centre for the development of transformative communications technologies

Cisco Chairman and CEO John Chambers stated that “Ontario has long been globally recognized as a centre of excellence for IT innovation. Both the Province and Cisco share a dynamic vision for building on the substantial IT R&D capability resident here and we see a key opportunity to join forces to further Ontario’s innovation machine. This collaboration and co-investment is an excellent example of how governments can partner with industry to help drive innovative strategies.”

More children in southern Ontario will be able to experience real-world scientific issues and innovations thanks to an investment in Actua announced by Peter Braid, Member of Parliament for Kitchener-Waterloo, on behalf of the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).

“Our Government recognizes the importance of preparing young people for today’s high-tech economy,” said MP Braid. “By developing our next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians, we can help drive innovation and keep the economy growing in southern Ontario for years to come.”

Actua, a national science, engineering and technology youth outreach network, will receive up to $1.25 million to enhance its customized programming designed to engage youth who are typically underrepresented and underserved in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. This includes Aboriginal youth, girls, underprivileged youth, at-risk youth and youth living in remote areas or inner-city neighbourhoods. The funding will help Actua create more spaces in southern Ontario for children to participate in summer camps, classroom workshops, clubs and community outreach activities. These are delivered by university undergraduate students in science, technology and engineering programs who are instructors for Actua network members.

“We are extremely pleased to have this opportunity to grow our southern Ontario members’ capacities to deepen the impact and broaden the reach of our STEM programming, especially for youth who are underserved and underrepresented in STEM. This FedDev Ontario contribution will enhance Actua’s significant contributions to building the next generation of Ontario innovators!” said Jennifer Flanagan, President and CEO of Actua.

The investment is provided through FedDev Ontario’s Youth STEM Initiative, aimed at encouraging students in kindergarten through grade 12 to pursue an education or career in the STEM fields. For more information about the program and Actua, please refer to the backgrounder.

FedDev Ontario was created as part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan to support businesses and communities in southern Ontario. Now in its second year of operation, the Agency has launched a number of initiatives to create a Southern Ontario Advantage and place the region in a strong position to compete in the global economy. These initiatives are designed to support businesses and other organizations through partnerships and investments in skills and training; innovation; research and development; and increased productivity. To learn more, please visit the web site or call 1-866-593-5505.

The Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, announces that Youth Employment Services (YES) will receive $1,012,022 in non-repayable funding to continue financing its Entrepreneurship program for a three-year period ending March 31, 2014.

“The Government of Canada is proud to support Youth Employment Services, which plays a crucial role in encouraging young members of the Greater Montréal English-speaking community to go into business for themselves,” said Minister Lebel.

This assistance will enable YES to continue offering services, including personalized counselling, business management training, networking and mentoring programs, to help the region’s youth in their efforts to start up a business.

In 2009-2010, some 2,200 young clients availed themselves of the organization’s services, for a total of nearly 9,000 visits. Each year, YES lends its support to the creation of about 200 small and medium-sized enterprises. This funding has been granted through the Community Diversification program.

Nokia has entered into an agreement with Polar Mobile to launch over 300 mobile apps for Nokia smartphones over the next 12 months. Polar Mobile will be launching apps on Nokia smartphones for over 300 top tier media brands globally, including the likes of Wired UK, Kompas, Advertising Age, Globe and Mail, Shanghai Daily and 7DAYS. The apps will be made available to consumers of Nokia’s Symbian smartphones, the recently announced Nokia N9 and future Nokia with Windows Phone devices.

“Nokia is excited about the opportunity to team up with Polar Mobile to bring hundreds of quality apps to consumers around the world. Polar Mobile’s ability to scale and attract a global set of brands is strategic in supporting Nokia’s efforts in offering compelling apps and experiences for our users,” said Richard White, General Manager, Nokia Canada.

The first set of 50 apps under this new partnership will be available on Nokia’s Symbian devices by next month and will be available globally through Nokia’s Ovi Store.

“We are thrilled that Nokia has chosen Polar Mobile to provide top tier media apps for their devices. Nokia’s global consumer reach is important for many of our customers, especially in Europe, Middle East and Asia,” says Kunal Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Polar Mobile. “Partnering with Nokia helps our media customers continue to grow their mobile audiences”.

Polar Mobile provides a software Platform to top-tier media companies to make it fast & easy to launch mobile Apps across multiple smartphone and tablet operating systems. Using Qt as the basis for its Platform on Nokia smartphones, Polar Mobile can deliver rich user experiences for their customers. To date, Polar Mobile has launched over 1,200 mobile apps across other major smartphone devices for more than 300 media brands in 10 countries. Now, in partnership with Nokia, Polar Mobile can extend support for Nokia smartphones reaching consumers in 190 markets.

Poynt Corporation has announced that the Poynt app is now available to Virgin Media’s mobile customers purchasing the newly launched Android-powered Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro in the United Kingdom (UK). Poynt appears as a preloaded icon on the device.

The preloading of the Poynt App on mobile devices facilitates user trials and continued usage, and has proven highly effective in bridging the gap between general product awareness and actual user adoption. Previous preloads, or embeds, have resulted in high user adoption and monthly user retention rates over 50%. Additional users lead to increased user activity, which is then monetized through searches and display advertising within the Poynt platform. On average, users gained through a preload agreement perform 23 searches per month.

“Preload agreements with mobile operators, like Virgin Media, are helping drive Poynt’s user base to quickly become one of the most widely-adopted mobile applications worldwide,” said Andrew Osis, president and CEO of Poynt Corp. “In fact, of our 700,000 new users in June, existing preloads contributed more than 300,000 new users. We are working on signing new preload agreements with additional carriers in the U.S., Western Europe, and Asia, which together could add up to more than 50 million new users of Poynt.”

In addition to the current deployment on the Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro, the Company also has an agreement with Virgin Media for a Virtual Preload on several BlackBerry devices.

Poynt is a convenient and timesaving GPS-enabled mobile application that connects consumers to local businesses, events, restaurants, movie theatres, gas prices and weather information at the moment they are looking to buy or acquire products or services. Poynt provides consumers with the ability to move beyond discovery of their local area to view movie trailers and reviews, buy movie tickets, click-to-call businesses, get directions, browse listing websites and read reviews and book dining reservations.

Poynt provides contextual and relevant advertising to users performing local queries and its revenue model is based on user queries, page views, advertising and transactions within the App. Each user query generates several page views, which are monetized through display advertising and sponsored listings paid for by advertisers. These advertising placements generate revenues on a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) basis or on a cost per click (CPC) basis. Transactions, such as ticket sales and restaurant reservations, also contribute to revenues on a fee for service basis.

Poynt is available as a free download for users in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Australia on BlackBerry® smartphones, BlackBerry Playbook™ tablet, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, Android, Windows Phone 7 and Nokia devices from the respective App Stores. Poynt is also available via Over the Air download at m.poynt.com.

via CMF email: The Canada Media Fund has extended an invitation to Canadian content creators to participate in its on-line consultation about changes for the 2012-13 programs.

The Canada Media Fund has launched a new « Outreach and Consultation »  section on its website. This section will keep you informed about the discussions held by the various working groups and the Digital Media Measurement Advisory Committee concerning certain policy issues in view of changes for the 2012-2013 programs. You are invited to submit your comments and opinions on the discussion forum.

All documents presented and discussed during the working groups and the advisory committee meetings, as well as the calendar of meetings, will be available for download. You are invited to consult the updates on a regular basis and share your concerns on the discussion forum.

Bell Media has shared preliminary findings from its fourth annual Canadian Mobile Media Snapshot. The 2011 research illustrates the strong link between mobile media use and brand awareness, favourability and purchase intent.

Among the key findings:

• 82% of mobile media users agree that mobile media is a good way to learn about new products and brands
• 80% of mobile media users agree that mobile media can influence them to investigate a product or service
• 71% of mobile media users agree that mobile media can change the way they think about a product or service
• 65% of mobile media users agree that mobile media can influence them to buy a product or service

“The importance of mobile in daily life has already been well established. What these findings underline is a clear opportunity for brands to impact their key metrics by using mobile media and advertising,” says Jonathan Dunn, Associate Director, Mobile Sales and Marketing, Bell Media Digital. “We are seeing increasingly positive attitudes towards mobile advertising from consumers with nearly 30% of mobile media users citing excellent experiences with mobile ads.”

Of those surveyed, over half had purchased their phone in the last year leading to a smartphone penetration percentage within the survey sample of 56%. This is consistent with the Canadian Wireless and Telecommunications Association’s recently published figures for Smartphone use among key urban demographics in their 2011 Cell Phone Consumer Attitudes Study. These figures align with carrier device sales and widely available projections for Smartphone adoption in the next 6-12 months.

“Conscious of the dramatic acceleration of Smartphone adoption in Canada, the research we released provides much more than a trailing view of the market,” says Dunn. “The 2011 Canadian Mobile Media Snapshot was structured to ensure our sales teams and agency partners have access to data that can be confidently applied to proactive campaign planning.”

Canadian mobile users are also issuing a call to action for Canadian brands to make more content mobile friendly. When asked what would encourage them to use the mobile Internet more, the top reasons respondents gave all spoke to issues solved by more mobile-optimized sites including: sites better designed for mobile browsing; easier to use mobile sites; and more mobile sites.

“The feedback is significant in that it provides clear indication that Canadians have an appetite to engage with brands on mobile but are frustrated by web experiences designed exclusively for desktop,” said Dunn.

The Canadian Mobile Media Snapshot researched consumer use habits and preferences by device, operating system, content consumption and time and place-based use amongst Canadian mobile owners aged 16-64 across Canadian provinces. Age, gender and geographic lenses have been applied to the data to ensure brands working with Bell Media Digital Sales have access to highly relevant and actionable data about their target customer segments in a way that is consistent with existing planning practices.

According to Calgary home automation company Vivint™, Canadian customers are adopting smart home technologies at a higher rate than customers in the United States. As of July 2011, 54 percent of new Canadian customers added smart home features like remote door locks, video surveillance, energy management, and lighting and small appliance control to their basic security packages—compared to 48 percent in the United States.

Smart home features are easier to use and more affordable than ever—with full packages running about the same price as a cell phone plan. New technologies, professional installation services, and innovative financing plans have made the safety, convenience, and energy management benefits of home automation accessible for a wide variety of consumers.

Gail Albin and her husband Michael of Qualicum Beach, B.C., use Vivint’s smart home technology to stay safe, and stay connected: “My husband travels overseas for his job and the big time change can make it hard for us to stay in touch,” Gail said. “Michael uses the Vivint app from his smart phone to check the system log, which tells him when I have armed and disarmed our system. That way, he knows that I’m safe at night, and when I’m awake and he can call me in the morning.”

Ted and Karen Betts of Lethbridge, Alberta, use Vivint to manage their energy use and give family members access to their house while they are away. “My husband and I own a business that takes us away from home quite regularly. It’s great to be able to adjust our thermostat, from the Vivint website, to make sure our house isn’t too warm or too cold—especially during the winter months.” She continued, saying that “My sister checks on our house regularly, when we travel, and it’s so much more convenient to just give her a personal code she can use to get inside. She doesn’t have to worry about keeping track of a key, and the system arms automatically when she leaves. The ability to access the Vivint website and monitor all entry and exits taking place, regardless of where in the world we might be, provides us with an extraordinary sense of security and control of our home while we are away.”

Alberta led the country with 66 percent of new customers adding smart home features. The lowest adopting province is New Brunswick at 33 percent—which is still higher than 18 U.S. states and territories.

New customer smart technology adoption by province: