The 451 Group has acquired mobile research firm Yankee Group for an undisclosed amount from Alta Communications
The 451 Group announced on Thursday that it has acquired mobile research firm Yankee Group for an undisclosed amount from Alta Communications.
Established in 1970, Yankee Group has more analysts covering the mobility market than any other analyst firm, making the acquisition a strategic buy for The 451 Group, who is also parent company to 451 Research and Uptime Institute.
With the mobile market forecast to be a $3 trillion market opportunity by 2016, the acquisition will help bolster The 451 Group’s expertise in the growing mobile sector. As web hosts and cloud software providers look to improve their mobile offering by planning new mobile products and tweaking existing products design to be more responsive on mobile devices, more research in this sector will help inform business decisions.
Particularly, the recent launch of the Yankee Group Mobile Advisory and Planning Services product family will see the consistent release of mobile-focused research from The 451 Group. Launched in October 2012, the product is a research and advisory offering that combines its market research with “exclusive daily insights and weekly thematic perspectives on the hot issues driving the mobile ecosystem.”
While The 451 Group has grown in recent years with the acquisition of Uptime Institute in 2009, it still only has around 200 employees, which is very small when compared to Gartner and Forrester, which employ around 4,300 and 1,200, respectively.
“We are delighted to welcome the Yankee Group team to join me and the 200+ current professionals here at The 451 Group. For over four decades, the insights of Yankee Group have served the telecommunications industry and, more recently, the emergent mobility marketplace,” The 451 Group chairman and CEO Martin V. McCarthy said in a statement. “Mobility is a huge driver of innovation in business and technology markets globally. Its impact in the evolving enterprise and broader consumer IT marketplaces will fundamentally shape the future expansion and strategy of digital infrastructure. With Yankee Group, we see an exciting opportunity to significantly extend The 451 Group’s focus on the evolution of Digital Infrastructure. Yankee Group supports our operating philosophy of long-term, sustainable, profitable, global growth.”
Since 2010, Yankee Group has been led by CEO Terry Waters, who will continue as CEO of Yankee Group after the acquisition. He will report to McCarthy, how will also serve as Yankee Group chairman.
“Our joining The 451 Group is an important milestone in the evolution of Yankee Group. Yankee Group is uniquely positioned to lead the industry in navigating the dynamics of the new mobile economy,” Yankee Group CEO Terry Waters said in a statement. “The support and resources of The 451 Group as a strategic owner will enable Yankee Group to deepen our focus on key themes driving the mobile ecosystem – including mobile money, mobile and connected devices, mobile applications and cloud, mobile broadband and mobile leadership – and to dramatically expand our new Mobile Advisory and Planning Services platform. We are very excited to be joining The 451 Group family, and look forward to continuing to provide actionable research and trusted advice to our clients around the world.”
Yankee Group will operate as an independent division of The 451 Group post-acquisition.
Talk back: What do you think of The 451 Group acquisition of the Yankee Group? Do you see the development of more mobile research as beneficial to your own business adopting mobile technologies? Let us know in a comment.
About Nicole Henderson
Nicole Henderson is the Editor in Chief of the Web Host Industry Review where she covers daily news and features online, as well as in print. She has a bachelor of journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto. You can find her on Twitter @NicoleHenderson.
