Struggling and unloved Siemens Mobile has been taken over by BenQ, best known for making Acer computers. BenQ will continue to
use the Siemens Mobile brand. Nokia's executive vice-president
offered a great quote about the acquisition: "Two turkeys together will
not make an eagle".
Motorola is purchasing Birmingham-based mobile phone manufacturer Sendo. Sendo was founded in 2000 and was recently involved in legal action against Microsoft. Motorola's takeover only involves key parts of the UK company's mobile phone business, not the entire operation.
France Telecom, which owns mobile phone company Orange, is to rename two of its other companies. Wanadoo (formerly Freeserve, an internet service provider) and Equant (a fixed-line telephone service) will be rebranded as 'Orange' next year.
Vodafone is linking with Microsoft's instant message service, enabling Vodafone Messenger mobile phone users to chat online with anyone who has MSN Messenger on their PC.