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Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson posted weaker-than-expected underlying earnings, hit by a slumping global mobile phone market and cutbacks in investments by operators.

Japan's Canon Inc is expected to report an operating profit for the January-March quarter on brisk sales of single-lens reflex cameras and a weak yen, the Nikkei business daily reported without citing sources.

Global recorded music sales fell by more than 8 percent in 2008 to $18.42 billion led by a sharp drop-off in sales in the United States, according to the world music trade body IFPI.

MUZU.TV, an Irish-based video website which has won plaudits from the music industry for the way it pays artists when their music is played online, has signed a deal with the world's largest label Universal.

Penguin Group has become the first international publisher to sign an English electronic book distribution deal in China after seeing significant growth in the United States, the head of the group said on Tuesday.

MUZU.TV, an Irish-based video Web site which has won plaudits from the music industry for the way it pays artists when their music is played online, has signed a deal with the world's largest label Universal.

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson said on Friday it plans to cut one in five jobs this year in its battle to return to profit as a sluggish market brought a hefty first-quarter loss, as expected.

Sony Ericsson will take some time developing a phone using Google's Android operating system, its chief executive said on Friday, but declined to say when such a handset would be available.

Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson said on Friday it would slash another 2,000 jobs this year to fight a slumping handset market as it posted a big first-quarter loss in line with expectations.

Google Inc's YouTube said on Thursday it has reached a deal to post Sony Corp films and TV shows and was talking with other big studios to ramp up content and attract more advertising dollars.

Overall U.S. video game sales fell 17 percent in March to $1.43 billion, research group NPD said on Thursday, a revealing figure for an industry that had so far shown resilience in the economic downturn.

Sony Corp's Sony Pictures on Thursday became the sixth major studio to support a theater-chain upgrade to digitally convert 20,000 U.S. and Canadian cinema screens, at an estimated cost of more than $1 billion.

Japan's Sharp Corp and Pioneer Corp said they would set up a joint venture to merge their optical disc businesses, aiming to beef up one of their focus operations and take a leading position in the growing Blu-ray disc market.

For the first time in 16 months, PlayStation 3 outsold Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii and the Xbox 360 sales in March.

Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 outsold Nintendo Co Ltd's Wii in March for the first time in 16 months in Japan thanks to hot new PS3 titles from Sega Sammy and Capcom , a game magazine publisher said.

Sony Computer Entertainment America said Tuesday it will cut the price of its PlayStation 2 game system by 23 percent to $99.99 as of April 1.

Google China has officially launched its free MP3 search engine after sealing deals with four major music labels -- Warner Brothers, Universal Studios, EMI and Sony-- and over 140 indie labels.

Nintendo has shipped more than 50 million units of its Wii game console since its launch three years ago, becoming the fastest-selling console ever, the company's president said on Wednesday.

Workers at a factory operated by U.S. firm 3M held their French manager hostage overnight to protest against plans to lay off half the staff.

Sony Ericsson's struggling handset company is undergoing an executive shake up in its U.S. branch.

Sales of Microsoft's Xbox 260s in the U.S. in February was up 53 percent from the same month last year, giving the company its biggest non-holiday sales month sales apart from September 2007 when Halo 3 was launched, according NPD Group research firm.

Sony Ericsson sparked fresh fear of crumbling consumer demand on Friday when the world's No 4 handset maker said it would sell barely half of the phones it sold last quarter.By Tarmo Virki, European technology correspondent

Sony Electronics Inc. is joining forces with Google Inc. to battle Amazon.com Inc. in the growing electronic books market which is projected to more than double this year.

Sony Ericsson is betting heavily on camera phones in the United States this year, hoping high-end photography will convince consumers to buy a new phone or replace digital cameras.

Sony Corp is making available public domain books from Google Inc to users of its electronic book reader, Sony said on Wednesday, vastly increasing the amount of available content on the device.

Japanese electronics firm Sony Corp said on Thursday it would freeze workers' salaries this year as the company tried to recover from a record loss, and its rivals may follow in the face of a global sales slump.

Sony and Comcast are working together to open a unique co-branded retail experience in the Comcast Center: Sony Style Comcast Labs.

Workers at a Sony plant in southwestern France detained the chief executive of the Japanese group's French arm overnight to demand better layoff terms when their factory closes in April.

Workers at a Sony plant in southwestern France detained the chief executive of the Japanese group's French arm overnight to demand better layoff terms when their factory shuts down in April.