Lookout, a company that offers security services for a number of smartphone platforms, is continuing its international expansion to Europe with a strategic partnership with European telecommunications giant. Deutsche Telekom. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.
For background, Lookout’s web-based, cloud-connected applications for Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and iOS devices help users from losing their phones and identifies and block threats on a consumer’s phone. Users simply download the software to a device, and it will act as a tracking application, data backup and a virus protector much like security software downloaded to a computer. People can also manage multiple mobile devices and locate a phone or tablet on a Google map. Lookout, which now has 20 million users, says it identified more than 1,000 instances of mobile malware in 2011, which is a significant increase since 2010.
Last year, Lookout raised $40 million in new funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, Accel Partners and Index Ventures to help expand the company’s presence abroad.
The partnership focuses on distribution and joint innovation, aiming to bring mobile security and better device health to Telekom’s millions of customers throughout Europe. CEO John Hering tell us that this is the company’s first strategic carrier partnership in Europe. He explains that while product details of the deal are still being determined, Deutsche Telekom and Lookout are teaming up to drive innovation in new areas of product development for the security company. Deutsche Telekom has set up a facility for Lookout in Berlin, he says, to build new functionalities together. In some Deutsche Telekom phones, Lookout will be preloading its mobile security app, he adds.
“The mobile environment is increasingly led by downloadable mobile applications, often with people customizing their devices with mobile applications from different sources,” says Heikki Makijarvi, Senior Vice President Business Development at Deutsche Telekom. “This drives the importance of security and health on mobile. Lookout’s experience in developing leading-edge security applications for this new dynamic environment makes them the ideal partner for Telekom in this critical new category of device solution.”
This partnership adds to relationships Lookout has with a number of U.S. carriers, including Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile (a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom). And the company’s mobile security app is already available in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom via native apps.
Herring says that the expansion of Lookout to European customers will also help boost the security company’s Mobile Threat Network, a cloud-based network which constantly analyzes global threat data to identify and quickly block new threats with over-the-air app updates. The Mobile Threat Network scans billions of apps a month.
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