Millennial Media has acquired TapMetrics, a San Francisco-based mobile analytics firm focused on application usage and behavior. 

TapMetrics software suite provides detailed analytics to enable developers to better manage their application sales and revenue. By adding TapMetrics, Millennial Media will offer developers more capabilities across mobile platforms.

?We are a very advertiser-side focused company and we believe in providing the best monetization back to advertisers and publishers,? said Paul Palmieri, president/CEO of Millennial Media, Baltimore, MD. ?Monetization and analytics is what wins the day.

?On the developer side of the house, given we are in a  unique position as we are not co-opted by one of the platforms, we are going to provide developers with analytics,? he said. ?We?ll be providing them with analytics that give them true business insights.

?The acquisition is all about providing the long tail audience that we are aggregating a one-stop shop for monetization and business insights.?

Millennial Media operates a leading mobile advertising platform. Since adding $16 million to its strong cash position in November, Millennial Media has expanded its offerings to key customer segments, to include OEM and platform partnerships that seek to access its strong base of developers and publishers.

TapMetrics is an early innovator in mobile application analytics, is the creator of the TapMetrics software suite, designed specifically for the mobile developer to easily track analytics, reviews and revenue.

By acquiring Tap Metrics, Millennial will provide developers:

? Real-time, detailed analytics
? User interaction information
? Feature and version adoption
? Device types
? Crash reporting
? Competitive ratings system
? Buzz tracker and reviews

Millennial is one of the last major independent mobile ad networks left, with competitors AdMob and Quattro Wireless having been bought up by Google and Apple, respectively.

Apple entered the mobile advertising space through the acquisition of Quattro, sending ripples through the industry.

The sale of mobile ad network Quattro to Apple surprised many for its price tag, $275 million?only slightly more than one-third of what Google paid for rival AdMob. This publication was the first to report on the news that Quattro had been acquired, before Apple was named as the acquiring company (see story).

In November, Google signed a game-changing agreement to acquire mobile ad network AdMob for $750 million in stock in a move that validated mobile advertising as an effective marketing medium.

Google hoped that the acquisition would enhance its existing expertise and technology in mobile advertising, while also giving advertisers and publishers more choice in this fast-growing area (see story).

As one of the last remaining independent mobile ad networks left, Millennial needed to revamp its value-proposition for developers.

?I think for us it?s a new area and not an area we have previously competed in,? Mr. Palmieri said. ?What it does is it helps further define our value proposition to developers."