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There's nothing like a bit of acquisition-news to start the day off right. Taking a look at today's developments, it was nice to see that a certain smartphone would indeed make it to market this year, but then there's this little gem from the business side of things.

Acer announced that it has entered into an agreement to buy E-TEN Information Systems Co. Ltd. Turns out, Acer wants to dabble in the mobile world - a world that's more mobile than their current expertise in notebooks would allow.

Whether it's mobile phones or mobile computing (two markets that are on a head-on collision course over the next few years, by the way), Acer looks positioned really take a bit out of the "mobile market." After buying up Gateway and Packard Bell, the company's acquisition of E-ten should solidify their stance as a true mobile-player.

"This strategic transaction is yet another important milestone in Acer's long history of innovation," said J.T. Wang, Chairman and CEO of Acer Inc. "The acquisition of E-TEN increases Acer's global footprint by giving us a strong and highly credible presence in the mobility segment."

And it doesn't hurt that E-ten has a reputation for making some powerful Windows Mobile smarphones. We've been impressed by E-ten's lineup of Glofish handsets, and we can't wait to see what the new partnership (and presumably larger R&D bankroll) will do for E-ten's high-end offerings.

[Via: Mobility Today]

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Ok, we knew this is coming — the first Ferrari branded smartphone. And it's from no one else but Acer, the company who already makes Ferrari branded laptops. As we've already posted, the Acer Ferrari c500 Pocket PC will feature Samsung's 300MHz 2442 processor, Windows Mobile 5 (update please), a 2.8" touchscreen, Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity options. The following photo (taken from Engadget) shows that the Ferrari smartphone will look quite conventional — nothing too fancy, except the beloved red color. It may not shine in terms of specs like it should, but THE logo is there and… I'm in! (via: engadget)

Hmm, a Ferrari smartphone has been approved by the FCC. Sounds like a dream…

Following Vertu and Sony Ericsson, Acer decided to jump-in with its version of a Ferrari handset. Unlike the first two mentioned companies, Acer decided to make a Ferrari smartphone. The FCC filing reveals that Acer Ferrari c500 Pocket PC sports a 2.8" QVGA touchscreen, 64 MB SDRAM, 128MB NAND flash, a GPS, memory card slot, and support for Bluetooth and WiFi wireless connectivity. On the other hand, Acer decided to go for Samsung's 300MHz 2442 processor (why not bundling the faster processor for a Ferrari device?) and the Windows Mobile 5. Hopefully the latter will be upgradeable… (via: Engadget)