ROK Entertainment Group, the UK-based mobile technologies, applications and entertainment development company, has acquired a 51% controlling interest in 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, says ROK, as well as the increasing convergence between the phone and notebook market. ROK notes that recent market research conducted by Intel found that every owner of a mobile phone will eventually own a notebook.

ROK says the acquisition forms part of its 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 companys product offering.

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

Rock has a reputation for notebook technology innovation, and earlier this year, took its first steps into Europe by offering a 3-year pan-European warranty on all notebook products, with a long-term plan to hit the US by 2010, where ROK already operates.