Software company Somoto Ltd.'s (TASE: SMTO) share plunged on a large trading volume today, after the company yesterday published a further revision concerning its relations with Apple Inc (Nasdaq: AAPL).
Trading in the Somoto share was halted last Thursday after the company reported receiving an automatic message from Apple canceling the digital signature by Genieo Innovation. Genieo CEO Sol Tzvi received an automatic notice canceling the verified digital signature obtained by Genieo. Somoto completed its acquisition of Genieo last August, after the shareholders approved the $34.1 million deal.
In its notice, the company stated the notice had been sent to Genieo with no explanations for the cancelations or prior warning by Apple. The company noted that it intended to contact Apple immediately to see if a reversal of the decision were possible, or to examine the implications of the decision, including its business consequences.
Somoto announced yesterday that Apple had told the company that the matter was being checked, and that Genieo expected to receive Apple's answer within a very short time.
Somoto added, "The company believes that the reason for Apple's notice concerns the high number of complaints by end users, due among other things to the large scale of the add-on for the Omnibar search engine in the Safari browser. Genieo previously spoke with Apple about its plans for finding a solution for these complaints, and had subsequently adjusted its add-on. No indication and/or warning was given to Genieo that Apple intended to cancel its digital signature."
The company stated that it was "continuing to distribute its products, including those of Genieo, that run on Apple's operating system, and the possible effect on the company's revenue is therefore limited to revenue from the Omnibar program in Apple's Safari browser."
Somoto estimates that 25% of its revenue in 2014 comes from the installing of the Omnibar program on Apple's Safari browser. At the same time, the company said, "As of now, the company believes that the effect on its 2015 revenue will be substantially less than this proportion."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 18, 2015
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015