By Ken Schachter

Openwave Systems, a maker of software for mobile phones, has acquired WiderWeb in a deal whose cost could run up to $9 million, the company announced Tuesday.

The deal gives Redwood City, California-based Openwave software that reformats web content into bite-size portions for mobile phones. Translating web pages into a form suitable for the tiny screens on mobile phones has been a formidable problem for content providers.

Openwave will pay $5 million in cash for the Hertfordshire, UK, company plus up to $4 million more based on certain milestones.

The acquisition will not have a material impact on Openwave’s fiscal 2007 financial results, the company said. The company said it would integrate WiderWeb into its platform for transferring data between the Internet and wireless mobile devices.

"The content reformatting technology from WiderWeb can dramatically improve the user experience when accessing Internet content on mass market mobile devices,” Peter Galvin, senior vice president of products and marketing at Openwave, said in a statement.

Openwave also makes software that zeroes in on a subscriber’s location and delivers it to applications. The company also lets users customize their voice mail greetings; it also serves sports, news and weather, and provides e-mail and voice-messaging services.