ROK buys ROCK

ROK Entertainment Group, the UK-based mobile technologies, applications and entertainment development company and owners of ROK Comics, has announced it has acquired a 51% controlling interest in Warwick-based company Rock, a performance notebook manufacturer (and subsidiary of Eikon Group Limited).

Under the terms of the agreement, ROK and Rock will share expertise in IPTV, place shifting, mobile internet and mobile entertainment platforms. This will take advantage of the synergies between the mobile phone and PC oriented technologies respectively as well as the increasing convergence between the phone and notebook market, with recent market research conducted by Intel finding that every owner of a mobile phone will eventually own a notebook.

This acquisition forms part of ROK’s strategy to expand in all mobile communications markets and will provide a further platform for the delivery of user-generated content, which constitutes a key strength of the Company’s product offering.

"Full-scale convergence of the notebook and mobile technologies - and how we use them both - has already begun," Laurence Alexander, CEO of ROK explained. "Three years ago, virtually no-one browsed the web on their mobile or received and sent emails. In three years time, people will be using their mobile in very similar ways to how they are using their laptops at present. It's all about technological convergence of the mobile with the internet to deliver ‘constant connectivity’.”

Rock are world-leaders in notebook technology innovation, such as being first to launch the world’s fastest graphics for the notebook platform, 8800M GTX by NVIDIA. Earlier this year, they made their first steps into Europe by offering three years pan-European warranty on all notebook products with a long term plan to hit the US by 2010, where ROK already operates.

“Rock’s customer base consists largely of early adopters, and make the ideal target for ROK’s products and services," commented Nick Boardman, CEO of Rock. "We will work extremely closely to bring some exciting technology to the market”.