Nokia acquires Plum Ventures

Mobile giant making more moves to keep up with iPhone

Struggling Nokia has been doing all sorts of things to keep up with the rapidly growing consumption of the iPhone.  From launching it's Ovi store, a competitor to the App store, to coming out with several new smart-phones like the Nokia N97.

Today Nokia's gone ahead and taken another step by acquiring a small, US-based social networking called Plum.  Plum develops and operates a cloud-based social media sharing and messaging service for small groups, which it says is, ideally suited for families, co-workeres, schools and even faith, naming a few.  

The financial details of the deal have yet to be disclosed, but according to the release, Nokia said it would acquire certain assets of Plum Ventures which employed approximately 10 people, with its main offices in Boston and San Francisco.

Plum completed a Series A round from Levensohn Venture Partners and Vulcan Capital.  Its services today deliver user-generated content on partner websites to more than 27 million unique users, in six languages.

Plum's assets will become a part of Nokia's Services unit, which focuses on mobile applications distributed through its Ovi Store, like maps, music, gaming, email, photography and media sharing.  Plum's founder Hans Peter said in a blog post today, "We can’t talk about what we will be doing as a part of Nokia yet. Rest assured that Plum Groups continues to operate unchanged. We would like to thank our loyal users for helping us reach this important milestone and look forward to continue on this exciting journey with you."