Sierra Releases The Voq Smartphone For Sale In Netherlands By KPN

[Mike Temporale]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.voq.net/site/news_events/news_20040706.voq' target='_blank'>http://www.voq.net/site/news_events/news_20040706.voq</a><br /><br /></div>"Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR - TSX: SW) and KPN today announced a global first with the commercial availability of the Voq Professional Phone™, a Microsoft Windows Mobile-based Smartphone with full QWERTY thumbpad. The Voq is being delivered throughout the Netherlands by KPN via its distribution channels at a retail price of €99 in combination with a two-year Business Select subscription and a 5Mb GPRS data package."<br /><br />I was beginning to think this day would never come! Congrats Sierra. The Voq is a very nice phone, although it does lack some of the more popular consumer features, I'm sure it will work very well in the enterprise market. According to my <a href="http://www.x-rates.com/cgi-bin/cgicalc.cgi?value=99&base=EUR">calculations</a> that works out to a very affordable $121 USD ($161 CDN). Nice!

[peterawest]

According to this article, the phone will be in the USA in two weeks. That's good news to me.

"The phone, Sierra Wireless' Voq Professional Phone, will make its debut in the United States on AT&T Wireless' network in the next two weeks, according to a Sierra Wireless representative. The phone will be distributed to retail stores and possibly carriers by Brightpoint North America, a subsidiary of Brightpoint."

Sierra smart phone debuts in Europe
http://news.com.com/Sierra+smart+phone+debuts+in+Europe/2100-1039_3-5258722.html?tag=nefd.top

[David McNamee]

According to this article, the phone will be in the USA in two weeks. That's good news to me.

That's good news... thanks for the tip!

I got a little hands-on time with the Voq last week. I haven't quite gotten used to QWERTY typing with my thumbs so it was still a little awkward. The keyboard did feel pretty sturdy - I certainly wasn't afraid of breaking it.