Handmark

Short description: Developer & distributor of mobile content

HandmarkType| Private

|

Industry| Mobile Applications
Successor| Sprint
Founded| 2000; 26 years ago (2000)
Founder| August Grasis III, Douglas Edwards and Jesse Devitte
Headquarters|

Kansas City, Missouri

United States

Area served

| Global

Key people

| Augie Grasis (Chairman), Paul Reddick (CEO), Terry Carlton (CFO), Evan Conway (EVP Marketing, Support & Ecommerce)
Products| Pocket Express, TweetCaster, ZAGAT TO GO(SM), Oxford Reference, see full client portfolio: www.handmarkapps.com

Number of employees

| 100
Website| handmark.com

Handmark is an American developer and distributor of mobile content, based in Kansas City, Missouri. The company was created in 2000[1] by the merger of Mobile Generation Software[2] with Palmspring Software.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Acquisition
* 3 See also
* 4 References
* 5 External links

## History

The company's original intention was to sell software and content for the Palm Operating System,[3] and in 2001 handmark purchased the Palm-related MemoWare repository. The company's scope has since expanded to include Windows Mobile,[4] Java,[5] and other mobile computing, smartphone and mobile phone platforms.

The company's Pocket Express wireless service offers users access to news, reference and infotainment content on BlackBerry, Palm Treo, Windows Mobile, and other wireless handhelds.[6] In addition to the Pocket Express wireless service bundle, Handmark distributes a number of wireless entertainment titles including Warfare Incorporated (RTS) (Palmsource Powered Up award winner).[7]

In January 2008 Handmark and Astraware announced a new business relationship in which Astraware became part of the Handmark group. Astraware was subsequently bought out by its management team in January 2010 and returned to being an independent game developer.[8]

In early 2009, Handmark acquired FreeRange Communications, makers of FreeRange WebReader, a free RSS based feed reader and content service for mobile phones and PDAs.[9] FreeRange Communications was founded by Jon Maroney and located in Portland, Oregon , and the core technology was incorporated in other products including NewsGator Go!, Attensa Mobile and VersionTracker mobile products.[citation needed] Versions were produced for BlackBerry phones, Windows Mobile and Pocket PC, Palm OS devices, Symbian and Java ME phones. The FreeRange reader was folded into Handmark's Pocket Express product line, while FreeRange's content service was branded the Handmark Mobile Publishing Platform. The Mobile Publishing Platform was subsequently spun off as a separate company Freerange 360,[10] which in 2012 was renamed to Storycode.[11]

London-based commuter newspaper The Evening Standard launched a mobile app with Handmark in May 2010.[12]

## Acquisition

Handmark was acquired by Sprint on April 4, 2013 and became a subsidiary of Sprint.[13]

## See also

* List of mobile software distribution platforms

## References

1. ↑ "Case Study The Problem: Handmark had 50% of the market for software for PDAs. Unfortunately, fewer people are buying PDAs". http://www.inc.com/magazine/20041101/casestudy.html.
2. ↑ "Corporate Profile for Mobile Generation". Business Wire. August 11, 2000. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2000_August_11/ai_64053952.
3. ↑ Brown, M. Steele (February 4, 2001). "Palm Potential". http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2001/02/05/smallb1.html.
4. ↑ "Handmark Announces New Applications for Windows Mobile-based Smartphones". http://www.gobizkc.com/news/news_details.asp?ID=2311.
5. ↑ "An Express Route to Multiplatform Success". http://www.nokia.com/NOKIA_COM_1/Developers/Success_Stories/Case_Studies/Entertainment/Entertainment_pdfs/sc_pro_handmark_A4c.pdf/sc_pro_handmark_A4c.pdf.
6. ↑ "Error: no `|title=` specified when using {{Cite web}}". http://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business/115433484687080.xml&coll=2.Error:+no+`|title=`+specified when+using+{{[[Template:Cite+web|Cite+web]]}}&rft.atitle=&rft_id=http://www.cleveland.com/business/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/business/115433484687080.xml&coll;=2&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikibooks.org:Company:Handmark">
7. ↑ "PalmSource | Press Room". http://www.palmsource.com/press/2004/021004_powerup.html.
8. ↑ Keith Andrew. "Handmark sheds Astraware as company shifts away from games". https://www.pocketgamer.biz/news/18138/handmark-sheds-astraware-as-company-shifts-away-from-games/.
9. ↑ "Handmark Acquires FreeRange Communications to Expand Mobile Media Offerings". Handmark. 2009-02-05. http://www.handmark.com/company/about/press.php?id=194.
10. ↑ "The Only Complete Mobile App Solution for Media and Content Publishers". Handmark. http://www.handmark.com/company/development/mobile-publishing-platform.php. Retrieved 2013-04-25.
11. ↑ "Top 5 Learnings from Running a Mobile App "Startup"". Mobile Portland. 2012-09-21. http://mobileportland.com/events/top-5-learnings-running-mobile-app-startup.
12. ↑ Deans, Jason (2010-04-24). "London Evening Standard launches smartphone app". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/may/24/london-evening-standard-smartphone-app. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
13. ↑ "Timeline shows long engagement led up to Sprint-Handmark union". Kansas City Business Journal. 2013-05-20. http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2013/05/17/timeline-shows-long-engagement-led-up.html.

## External links

* Official site for Handmark

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