Qualcomm today entered the mobile banking arena by announcing the acquisition of Atlanta-based Firethorn Holdings for $210 million in cash. It's a timely announcement - Firethorn's technology is behind AT&T's recently-announced mobile banking solution.

According to Red Herring's Cassimir Medford, it's a win/win for both companies - but particularly for Firethorn. "Firethorn could benefit immensely from Qualcomm's close relationships with major CDMA carriers such as Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and Alltel," he writes. "And Qualcomm's size and leverage could generate more confidence among large banks that seem skittish about adopting mobile banking, due to concerns about security and the software that connects the banks to the mobile network."

More here from RCR Wireless News ... more here from Reuters ... more here from InformationWeek ... more here from TheStreet.com ... and the press release is here.