AvantGo
AvantGo was a Web page / file synchronization service for personal digital assistants (PDAs) and smartphones. The system consisted of a browser client running on the device, a synchronization server, and (optionally) an Internet-connected PC to transfer Web pages to the mobile device. Users could create a free account and set up channels to be stored on their device during synchronization. Stored pages can be read later using the built-in Web browser without reconnecting to the Internet.
Users could subscribe to many channels ranging from general news to a wide range of special interest channels related to business, education, entertainment, health, sports, technology, travel and other categories. Users were also able to set up custom channels of almost any web page, and customize their linked pages up to a preset size and certain "link depth". These "Personal Channels" were available at no charge.
The organizations that used AvantGo services as a business tool were required to pay a fee based upon the number of subscribers.
History
AvantGo was founded in 1997 and was based in San Mateo, California. It quickly grew to nearly 400 employees and went public on September 28, 2000. Its IPO price was $12/share and it closed the day up $8 at $20/share with a market cap of nearly $1 billion. On Dec 12, 2002, the company was sold to Sybase for $38 million, only a bit more than the cash it had on hand. [1]
Starting in June 2008, AvantGo displayed on their main page and on the device web browser that all synchronization and channel services would be shut down on June 30, 2009.
The AvantGo service is now owned and operated by Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc. It is now a managed ad insertion platform focused on SMS ad campaigns AvantGo - Sybase Inc.