Acer joins OPA

Acer has joined the Open Patent Alliance (OPA), a group dedicated to offering intellectual property rights solutions that support the development and widespread adoption of WiMax, states TweakTown.

Acer joins current OPA members Alcatel-Lucent, Alvarion, Cisco, Clearwire, Huawei Technologies, Intel, and Samsung Electronics to foster an ecosystem focused on broader choice and competitive equipment and service costs for WiMax technology, devices and applications globally.

OPA president, Yung Hahn, says: "The OPA is excited to expand the reach of the 4G WiMax ecosystem to include non-traditional companies like Acer, a leading innovator on the cusp of the computing and cellular convergence revolution."

Sprint is planning to release BlackBerry Mobile Voice System (MVS) as the next generation of Sprint Mobile Extension, says TMCnet.

BlackBerry MVS integrates the functions of a desk phone with a BlackBerry smartphone to help mobile workers be accessible from virtually anywhere for improved productivity, enhanced collaboration with co-workers, and backend management and IT controls.

Sprint claims that busy mobile workers can streamline their communications with one corporate phone number that simultaneously rings up to four devices, one caller ID and a consolidated voice mailbox.

ViewSonic, a global provider of visual display products, has revealed plans to expand into the 3G smartphone industry, reports Ecoustics.com.

According to ViewSonic, China will be the first region to carry the phones, followed by Europe and the Americas.

This marks ViewSonic's first product in the smartphone market, but falls in line with the convergence of televisions, computers and mobile phones.