Mobile Linux firm boasts cheery financials, funding round

"Purple Labs was originally known for its Linux phone stack, which was used in several iMode-compatible Grundig phones distributed by French carrier Bouygues (pronounced "Bweeg"). The company later offered an interesting Purple Magic design (pictured above), which used NXP's "Nexperia" hardware reference design and VirtualLogix VLX to reduce component count, targeting sub-$100 end-user pricing. As far as we know, however, the phone was never widely distributed.

"Purple Labs pegged its second-half revenue increase to its acquisition and relaunch of Openwave's mobile browser business. Purple Labs acquired Openwave's mobile phone software business for $32 million last June, gaining Openwave's cross-platform browser and messaging client technologies. Purple Labs had previously committed to upgrading Openwave's high-end Surfer Browser, as well as its Mobile Integrated Dynamic Application System (MIDAS) mobile development kit and function library, which was also part of the deal."

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