Sierra Wireless signs up Voq distributors

Mobile Internet, The, July, 2004

Sierra Wireless is drumming up support for its pocketable Windows Mobile-based smartphone through the signing of several new distribution agreements for its Voq Professional Phone. The agreements span North America and Europe.

Sierra Wireless first announced the Voq product line in October 2003; until that time, the company was primarily known as a wireless data services company. The smartphone is powered by an Intel XScale processor and is based on Windows Mobile 2003 software. The handset sports a "qwerty" keyboard and out-of-the-box personal and corporate e-mail support of various types of accounts, including POP3, IMAPA, and Wireless ActiveSync to Exchange 2003.

Brightpoint and CellStar have singed on to distribute the smartphone in North America beginning this month, while KPN is rolling out the wireless device in the Netherlands. KPN says it will peddle the Voq Professional Phone for about $122 when a 2-year service agreement is signed.

Sierra Wireless has been busy as of late. Last week, the company announced it landed a $29 million deal for its 1XEV-DO PC Cards from Audiovox Communications. The PC5220 Wireless Wide Area Network 1XEV-DO PC Cards offer data speeds up to 2.4Mbps, with typical speeds ranging from 300Kbps to 600Kbps. The cards, which are designed for laptops, have a dual-band design that enables coverage and access on existing CDMA 1X networks.