Friendlyway Corporation purchases Big Fish Marketing Group

According to this press release, "friendlyway Corporation (OTCBB: FDWY), a provider of self-service public access kiosks and digital signage networks, today announced the acquisition of Big Fish Marketing Group. friendlyway Corporation will acquire Colorado Springs based Big Fish Marketing in a cash and stock transaction. Big Fish Marketing will become a wholly owned subsidiary of friendlyway Corporation. The acquisition of Big Fish is a strategic move to promote growth in the development of friendlyway's kiosk and digital signage networks while providing network advertising clients a more comprehensive approach to their marketing efforts. Big Fish is a profitable and growing business and will have a positive impact on our future. Big Fish Marketing specializes in creating comprehensive marketing campaigns for its clients, supporting all facets of advertising and marketing development and implementation."

This isn't the first time that a kiosk hardware vendor has tried to take on a larger role in the development of a turn-key kiosk solution, and for the most part the arrangement makes sense to me. It's widely agreed that testing a specific hardware and software combination will lead to a more stable and reliable product, and the addition of software services will give friendlyway both additional revenue streams and stronger ties to their customers. I just hope they know what a pain software consulting can be :)