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Comcast Acquires Plaxo - The End of Data Interoperability?

It’s a secret how much it cost them exactly, but Comcast officially confirmed it has acquired Plaxo, the social content and address book provider. What are the plans for the Plaxo within giant cable company and how will the lives of Comcast and Plaxo users be enriched?

Plaxo has been on the list of potential acquisitions for a few high profile companies including Google (with whom they were launch partners for Open Social) and Facebook. This acquisition with Comcast is rumored to be almost US$ 175 million.

What’s in Store for Plaxo Now?

According to Plaxo, they will remain an independent organization in Silicon Valley and will report to Comcast Interactive Media, a division of Comcast that operates Internet businesses focused on entertainment, information and communications.

Plaxo CEO Ben Golub said, “Comcast has an exciting vision to bring the social media experience to mainstream consumers. Together, we will be able to help users connect with all the people they care about, across all of the devices they use, with all the media they love to consume, create, and share. This is also great news for the Internet industry at large, where Plaxo has been — and will continue to be — a strong advocate for opening up the Social Web.”

There’s History Between These Two

Plaxo and Comcast have already been playing together. Later this year, you will see a Plaxo based universal address book for Comcast’s SmartZone communications center. In addition, Plaxo is already hosting all the address book accounts for Comcast webmail users.

Plaxo says that together the two intend to make social media “a natural part of the lives of regular people”. Hmmm…interesting dream. Do I really want to know what my brother is watching on TV, just because he’s my brother and in my contacts lists?

Plaxo’s Dream of Open Social

Not everyone is thrilled about this acquisition. Some think that Comcast is just out to get some cool functionality for their own customers and Plaxo’s data interoperability and data portability dreams are soon to be over. This deal does give Comcast a wider net for marketing of its services and other products.

For now, Plaxo’s ownership seems happy about the acquisition. They had some rough periods, but things have seemed to smooth over for them. This deal may help take them to the next level that alone they aren’t big enough to reach.

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