Motorola acquires Zecter to make content more portable

Motorola Mobility Inc., the smartphone maker being spun off from Motorola Inc., bought software company Zecter Inc. to help consumers transfer music more easily between its handsets and other devices.

Zecter's ZumoCast and ZumoDrive software let users move content from phones to computers and tablet devices, Motorola Mobility said today in a statement. The price wasn't disclosed.

Motorola Mobility, which begins trading as a separate company next month, is trying to distinguish itself from Samsung Electronics Co. and HTC Corp., which also build phones based on Google Inc.'s Android software. Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, said yesterday it will release a Motorola phone for its new high-speed wireless network next year.

Schaumburg-based Motorola gained 9 cents to $9.09 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have climbed 17 percent this year. Motorola Mobility, which is trading on a preliminary basis under the symbol MMI-W, rose $1.68, or 6.1 percent, to $29.42. The stock will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 4 with the ticker MMI.