DM: So Golden Bytes Barry. Excuse my ignorance, but I’ve never heard of them.

BH: They were one of the first mobile services companies to launch, in 1999. They ran the mobile services for the original Big Brother in Holland, so there is a lot of history behind the business. They  were the leading mobile Value Added Services company in the Benelux region. We have had a relationship with them for four or five years, and we have admired the business from a technical perspective, but we have already made some management changes around the running and direction of the business, and we will bring MIG’s methodology to it.

DM: Is it fair to say the business had lost its way then?

BH: Not lost its way, but we are giving it a shot in the arm. They are an aggregator, and they have a similar profile to our own in Belgium and Holland, with good relationships with operators and retailers, so there are some good conversations going on around mCommerce, around social media and voting and lots of other things.

DM: So this acquisition is more about extending MIG’s geographic reach into Europe, rather than adding new capabilities?

BH: Correct. When we bought Piri last year, that was to extend our proprietary capabilities. We have the full set now, with products that sit in each part of the value chain. We have been busy integrating these, so now it’s about extending our reach geographically.

DM: So what/where next?

BH: We are actively looking at N. America

DM: Through acquisition again?

BH: Yes.

DM: In what timeframe?

BH: We would like to do it in 2011. There are some companies in the frame so we’ll see what happens.

Barry Houlihan is CEO of Mobile Interactive Group (MIG)